The Happy Cactus

Photo a Day

2012-02-01T11:19:00.001-06:00

Since I failed so miserably at my multiple attempts at Project 365, I decided to take on a much smaller challenge. Through the magic that is Twitter and Pinterest, I found Fat Mum Slim's Photo a Day Challenge. I'm really excited about it and already thinking about tomorrow's photo! At the end of the month, I'll post all of the photos here.

In the meantime, grab your camera and play along (the rules are here)! Or just follow along on Twitter!

What's New at the Shoppe

2012-01-31T10:57:00.001-06:00

Since I haven't been busy blogging, I have been busy creating new items for my etsy shop. There's 4 new bags in the shop as well as a bunch of restocked prints. In the above picture, top left is Happy Little Forest Perfect Pouch; top right Cruisin' Wee Wallet; bottom left Cruisin' Perfect Pouch; and bottom right Happy Little Trees Perfect Pouch.

This week and this week only, I'm also running a sale on the last of my 2012 Calendars (pictured above). It features 12 original bird illustrations (one for every month, obviously) and is held together by a large metal bulldog clip. They're quite stylish, if I do say so myself. So grab the last one before its gone!

Photos and Things

2012-01-30T10:36:00.000-06:00

Last week P and I participated in a photo shoot with another photographer and some models. P modeled and I shot my trusty 35mm camera. It was an interesting experience. I had fun shooting the models (something I had never done before) and we definitely got a good work-out from walking around downtown climbing on things for a few hours.

When it was all said and done, I got some great shots (one of my favorite of P is above). I spent a good bit of time editing and carefully selecting the ones I wanted to post. Out of the 96 frames I took, there were 15 I felt great about sharing.

My approach to photography is one of minimalism when it comes to photo editing. I do not believe in using a lot of filters or special effects on my photos. I believe that what makes a good photo is the skill I used in taking it - being able to get the most out of my camera and film and taking the time to frame my shot before I snap the picture. When I edit, I only do a little bit of color correction and some cropping. Not much else. I am not saying that I judge people who use a lot of filters or heavy photo manipulation by any stretch! That's just not my taste.

That being said, the other photographer is one that uses a lot of filters and such. And I as I look at our pictures side by side, I wonder, is my technique dated? Am I being an elitist? Should I jump on this photo manipulation band wagon? Or should I stick to what I find pleasing? I know that the style of the other photographer is currently really popular . . . I just don't know if its right for me.

Here's the link to the album. What do you think?

Big Girl Panties

2012-01-09T12:19:00.000-06:00

They say its good to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. That's how you grow and become a better person. I'm really good at making plans, psyching myself up for the event/thing, and then chickening out at the last minute. I do it all the time.

Last year, I decided (and told everyone within ear shot) that I was going to cut all of my hair off (like Winona Ryder in Girl Interrupted) after my wedding. I went to my hair appointment ready to do it; sat down in the chair; and when my stylist asked me what I wanted . . . I broke down and said "just a trim." And to this day, I still have the same haircut I had when I got married. Its cute and all, but I'm still ashamed that I haven't been able to work up the balls to chop it all off. (On a side note, I've now decided that I want to grow it out again . . .)

So today I'm jumping in feet first into 2 things that I've been procrastinating about - leaving my dogs out of their crates all day and going to the gym. Yep, I'm putting on my big girl panties today y'all!

My dogs are crate trained and we've decided that today was the day to see if they were "grown up" enough to be left unsupervised and unrestrained in the house all day. Knowing them, they're curled up somewhere asleep. I closed off all the rooms of the house except the kitchen and the living room before I left; hid the trash can; turned the TV on to Animal Planet so they would have some noise; and left for work. I'm pretty sure this is what its going to feel like when I drop my kid off for the first day of school.

I've been wanting to go back to hot yoga for a while now, but unfortunately, its a bit cost prohibitive. Fortunately, my employer felt the need to put a gym in our building. I've had a membership to it for the past 8 months and have only set foot in it once (to sign up). So, I've decided that today is the day that I'm going to go down there and walk quickly on the elliptical machine after work. I'm doing it. I've told P to expect me home later than normal; I packed a bag of "work out clothes"; my iPod is loaded with up-beat tunes. I can do this.

So keep your fingers crossed that I will actually make it through the doors and won't run away with my tail between my legs. I wore my big girl panties today, right?!

2012 Goals

2012-01-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

In keeping with my tradition for the past few years, I've set some goals for 2012. This year, I plan to:

- finish 50 books. This is a goal a set out to accomplish last year and only halfway achieved.
- cook more meals at home. P and I did this for the most part last year, but there were some weeks that we ate out more than we should have and I would like to change this. Its better for both our budget and our waistlines if we eat at home more.
- have an inventory for my store instead of constantly trying to play catch-up and making bags. I know that this will mean more work at the beginning but it will also mean less stress when it comes to "show season," and that's a good thing.
- reach 75 sales in my Etsy shop. I hit 31 in 2011, which is awesome (and there will be a giveaway soon! I just have to finish the item!), so this year I really want to up the anty.
- increase my product line. I have new ideas that I'm really excited about and I want to add them to my store.

What about you? What are your goals for 2012?

2011 Wrap-Up

2011-12-30T10:49:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about things I did and did not accomplish this year and I was starting to get a little bummed. Last year (or rather earlier this year) in this post, I talked about how I wanted to apply for grad school, push my Etsy sales so that they were half of my yearly income (a very aggressive goal), loose weight, and find a place to show my photos. I didn't accomplish any of that. I also set a goal of reading 50 books this year and I only read 24!

But then I started thinking about the things I did accomplish this year . . .

- I got married and had a mainly handmade wedding (that was absolutely lovely and exactly what I wanted)

- P and I bought a house

- My bags are now not only available in my Etsy store but also in 2 stores! And they're selling!!

- I participated in more craft shows that ever this year and I even helped organize 2 of them

- I'm a leader in the most active Alabama Etsy team that just started in March of this year (and we have BIG plans for 2012)!

- I was the photographer for 2 weddings (both of which were beautiful and great learning experiences)

So while I didn't accomplish the specific things I thought I would, I still accomplished a lot and (I feel like) way more than I intended to. I've already started making plans for 2012 and I know its going to be an even better year!

How did your accomplishments in 2011 compare to the goals you set for yourself?

A Brief Hiatus

2011-12-20T11:09:00.000-06:00

This is becoming a trend with me . . . I'll be a great blogger for a bit - posting every day or so. And then all of sudden, radio silence. I'm sorry for that. I really am working at being more consistent, even though I'm pretty sure I don't have any loyal readers left.

Nonetheless, while I was gone, I have been busy. I've been working on Christmas presents and custom orders. And while I was gone, I made the first milestone sale of my Etsy shop - the 30th sale!! After Christmas there's going to be a giveaway, so stay tuned for that!!

Last night, I got a wild hair and decided that I didn't have enough stuff made for Christmas, so I made mints (pictured above). They weren't that hard to make, but I didn't pay attention to the instructions and now my hands are a lovely shade of pink . . . so if you decide to make them - WEAR GLOVES! Here's the recipe.

I hope y'all have been having a productive month!

The List - Again

2011-11-14T16:49:00.001-06:00

So, remember "The List"? Yeah . . . I was supposed to have completed my 101 things by September 29, 2011.

And needless to say I did not. But I still like the idea and I have a decent number of them done. So, I'm going to extend my deadline to one year from today - November 16, 2012. I have gone through it and updated it some (again). Some of the items are just not achievable, so I've replaced them with more reasonable (but still challenging) goals.

The ones I replaced are:
23. take a day trip just to take photos
27. Apply to an out of town craft show
30. write a short story
36. Start a compost bin
49. Read 50 books in 1 year.
59. have a girl's night with once a month
74. lose 20 lbs.
76. attend 4 free lectures
84. Complete Project 365
97. visit museums at least 6 times

I've complete 32 items (they're shown in green on the original post). I'm currently working on:
16. wear a skirt once a week for a month
18. develop 10 rolls of film myself (6/10)
28. try 7 new foods (2/7)
34. have tea everyday for 5 days
39. use my reusable shopping bags every time I go to the store for 2 months
67. read 100 books in 1001 days (63/100)
78. sell 25 items out of my etsy shop (23/25)
83. finish all of my clothing "repair" projects
90. take a photo of each of my friends
100. send 3 secrets to Post Secret (1/3)

Do you have an bucket-esque list? What's on it?

Project 365: Week 2

2011-11-14T15:23:00.001-06:00

Click on image for a larger view

Don't forget to follow the daily updates here!

Friday Finds

2011-11-11T08:30:00.000-06:00

This week's Friday Finds is a collection from my fellow NACrafters. If you're in Huntsville this Sunday, come by the Downtown Depot Roundhouse and check out the first ever NACrafters Holiday Craft Expo from 11am-5pm (there's no admission charge)!

- These cookies by Liz of Sweeter Indulgence. I've had the privilege to eat them (I work with her husband) and trust me, they are as delicious as they look!

- This necklace from Jessica of The Architect's Wife. She cuts and backs each piece by hand!!

- Ashley of Southern Pearl Designs makes the most beautiful paper mobiles, like this whale and cirlce one . . . maybe when I have a little one, I'll splurge for it . . .

- Lastly, this scarf by JFDesigns. I've been lusting over her scarves since I first saw them at the Madison Street Festival. Hopefully, I'll make enough this show to justify purchasing one . . .

Project 365: Week 1

2011-11-08T15:23:00.001-06:00

My first week of Project 365 ended on Sunday and I have been way too busy to post about it. But here it is now!

What's New at the Shoppe...

2011-11-01T13:52:00.003-05:00

Aside from the usual craziness of Halloween, moving, and house warming parties, I've also been busy adding new inventory to my Etsy shop. Last week I listed 11 new bags (yeah, I know, this post is way overdue) and began cutting fabric for a ton more.

shown: Tutti Frutti Terrific Tote (left); Say Cheese! Perfect Pouch (top); Granny Smith Wee Wonderful Wallet (bottom)

I'm also looking for ideas for new items to carry. Any suggestions?

Also, if you're local (or going to be in the area) on November 13th the NACrafters are having their first ever Holiday Craft Expo at the Historic Huntsville Depot Roundhouse from 11am-5pm!! So come by and check it out and get some of your Christmas shopping done early! We're going to have over 30 amazing vendors all from North Alabama!! Support Local and Support Handmade!

Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T10:56:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year! I love dressing up, carving pumpkins, and handing out candy to Trick-or-Treaters (which I still need to buy...)

This year, I painted my face and went as a sugar skull. P went as Hipster Hitler... if you haven't read the web comic, do it. I find it hilarious.

What shocked me when we were out Saturday night was how many people didn't know who P was. One guy thought he was "that Russian dictator dude;" another thought he was Australian . . . it was really sad how wrong they were. Has public school failed everyone this hard?!

I was also surprised that no one was offended by his costume. Maybe its because no one realized who he was and the ones that did also realized that he was making fun of Hitler?

Nonetheless, we had a blast! Now its time to carve my pumpkin at the last minute and wait for the Trick-or-Treaters to arrive!

Unfulfilled and Inspired

2011-10-27T15:05:00.001-05:00

This ring started it.

I was ~~killing time~~ researching good design on Pinterest yesterday and I found this ring and decided that I must own it (or at least find out how much it costs). So, I clicked on it and it brought me to a Tumblr page. I was slightly disappointed that I would have to do some research to find out the origins of the object of my affections, but the Tumblr was nice, so I didn't mind that much and began scrolling.

I've been scrolling for a collective 3 hours now (over 180 pages) and I'm in love. Whoever the author of this Tumblr page is has my heart aesthetically. They have such wonderful taste! And as I stare at page after page of glorious images, I start to long for my sketchbook, pencils, and camera. I want to create again. I want to do it for a living. I miss it.

So, I'm going to do something about it. I'm starting my Project 365 back up (first day is tomorrow) and I'm going to do one sketch a day.

I still haven't found the ring.

Spin Me Right Round

2011-10-24T14:02:00.001-05:00

Saturday P and I had our house warming party and finally acquired our record player. Its actually my grandparents old Zenith cabinet record player that they have had forever. And with it came the collection of records that resided in their house that was a conglomeration of my uncle's, mother's, father's, and theirs. Everything from the Carpenters to Chaka Khan & Rufus to the Chipmunks "Punk" album.

Pure epicness.

Needless to say, we'll be hitting up Vertical House and local thrift stores soon to increase collection. Any suggestions on "must haves"?

Inked and Proud

2011-10-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

Have you heard about TokiDoki's Tattooed Barbie yet? That's her. Personally, I'm a huge fan of TokiDoki. I have all of the Cactus Pups and a handful of his other creations. In fact, something on the box of Sandy (one of the Cactus Friends) was the inspiration for the name "Happy Cactus." But that's neither here nor there.

What is here is the horrible comments that people are posting in response to this Barbie. I read the article that was in Salon first and liked it. And then the comments. And then I got angry. Whether you like tattoos or not, you have no right to make such horrible accusations about someone's character based on what they choose to put on their body.

I only have 2 small tattoos but I want more. All of my tattoos (current and planned) have been thought about and carefully chosen- either for aesthetic purposes or for meaning. And not, as one commenter so closed-mindly suggests, "during or after a night of intoxicated partying." In fact, I don't think I know a single person to which this applies (except for my husband, but that's a long story). The stigma that tattoos are only for people who live on the "fringes of society" no longer applies, but unfortunately some people still cling to it and are probably teaching their children to stereotype others as well.

Tattoos have become a part of main stream culture. And like it or not, the generation that's now becoming parents has tattoos. And a lot of them. Today's moms look a lot more like this Barbie than the "traditional" Barbie and no amount of name calling and character slandering is going to change that.

Letting Go

2011-10-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

Olas que viene

Olas que van

Hola mi vida

Hola! Que tal?

That was a silly poem I had to learn in my 7th grade Spanish class. Literally it means "Waves that come; Waves that go; Hello my life (affectionate for a love); Hello! How are things?" Or something like that. Its one of the two things I remember from that class. The other thing is that my Spanish teacher made the most disgusting flan EVER!

For the past four months I've been struggling with a friend issue. I know that sometimes friends grow apart and slowly drift in different directions. I've had that happen before, but what I'm experiencing now is different. Its happening so much quicker and with a friend that six months ago was my closest friend. I don't know what's caused the sudden shift. It could have been something I said or it could just be that she's moved on.

It went from daily (sometimes multiple) conversations about every mundane detail of our lives to the now weekly (sometimes less often) strained conversations giving only the basic bland information that you might give an acquaintance. Its quite sad really. This is someone who used to every deep dark secret of my life and now our conversations about the weather, what we had for lunch, and her co-worker drama (so much drama!).

And what's more is that I don't care.

Well, that's not the complete truth. I miss her, but I'm tired of chasing her. I feel like for the past 10 years or so, I've been the one that's put all of the work in the relationship. Every time we fight (or whatever this is) I'm the one that "fixes" it and apologizes (even when I've done nothing wrong). But not this time. I've finally come to the conclusion that I don't need to apologize for things I haven't done just to keep a friendship with someone who isn't willing to do that for me.

So, I've let go. We had some great times. Some absolutely wonderful times. And maybe we still have memories to make, but for now:

Amigas que viene

Amigas que van...

A Plethora of Pumpkins

2011-10-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I headed out with some friends to get my yearly pumpkin, and stumbled upon a plethora of mini pumpkins. I think I had forgotten how cute they are . . .

I managed to restrain myself and only came home with 4 egg-shaped gourds and a normal sized pumpkin to carve later this week. Now I just have to figure out what to carve . . . any suggestions?

Back on the Cooking Bandwagon

2011-10-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

Last winter and spring I was doing really well about meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking every week. I had our food budget down to $50 a week!! And then our wedding happened. And then the tornado and blackout and I never got back in the groove. Part of the problems was that during the summer it is unbearably hot here and I don't feel like eating much more than salads, so meal planning is lost on me. I adopt this "fend for yourself" attitude and chaos reins. And part of it was that there was so much going on, my sewing business was expanding, we bought a house (and moved), and there were social things; so meal planning and cooking just fell to the wayside.

But now that we're in the house and I've developed a loose schedule, I want to get back into the groove. Not to mention our new kitchen is 300% bigger than the old one (ok, that maybe an exaggeration, but it is a lot bigger) and its fall which means I have an appetite again!

Thanks to the wonderful ~~time-waster~~ website Pinterest (are you on it? Find me...) I have found so many new recipes I want to try. But since I'm still incredibly co-dependent on my crock pot, not only because its a wonderful time saver, but also because I feel like I can't screw things up as bad with it, I'm going to stick with recipes that use it for the time being.

This week I'm going to attempt at least 2 of the following:
- Thai Style Pork Stew
- Pork and Hominy Stew
- Spicy Thai Noodles (these aren't crock pot friendly, but the recipe seems really simple...)

What are your favorite things to cook? Any recommendations?

What to Talk About

2011-10-05T10:12:00.001-05:00

Since I've been trying to revive my blog, I've run into a problem - what to talk to about.

Contrary to popular belief, my life is kinda boring. Granted there are small bursts of interestingness, like last Saturday where I (literally) ran two blocks to recover my friends lost wallet, flipped off 15 guys in suits (and yes, I did pump my wee extended middle fingers and yell "douches!" and yes, I had good reason to do this), and then proceed to counsel a young very drunk navy guy with what he should do with the rest of his life (he came up to me and asked. I told him to be the best damn person he could). But other than that, my life is basically work, home, and sewing sprinkled with some Glee, puppy love, and silliness with P.

I can post about what's going on with my shop and crafting, but I feel like that's so repetitive. Currently, I'm working on some "Hope" Perfect Pouches (pictured below). All of my profits from them are going to Breast Cancer Research. Each year I try to make something for Breast Cancer Month (as I call it). Its something that's close to my heart. I've had friends and loved ones that have been diagnosed with breast cancer, some have survived, some have not, but I feel like this (and all cancers really) are something that can be cured. I also participate in Liz Hurley Ribbon Run each year. Five of these bags will be going to BCC & Blush in South Carolina, four will go to The Switch House in Huntsville, and few will go to my etsy shop. I'll be sure to let y'all know when I post them!

So, that being said, what should I talk about?

Decisions...

2011-09-28T14:45:00.001-05:00

As usual, there are a million ideas swimming around in my head and I have a to-do list that is equally as long. And yet I find myself starting to think about what I'm going to make for Christmas presents. Mainly, what theme to do for my yearly calendar.

If you aren't familiar, every year I give my mom a calendar for Christmas. For the past few years, I've been determined to give only handmade presents (either made by me or by others). So naturally, I started making the calendar as well. The calendars began with photos and then last year I branched out and did illustrations of flowers. So, now I'm trying to figure out what type of illustrations I want to do...

I've been looking at examples and here's a few of my favorites. I love this one from e.m.papers. This one with themed monthly illustrations on Etsy. And this fruit and veggie one on Etsy.

Some of the possible themes I've thought of are:
- animals (zodiac related? maybe?)
- birds
- typography based design
- themed monthly (snow flakes for January; hearts for February; etc)

I'm just not sure. Any suggestions?

What I Did on My Summer Break

2011-09-21T13:32:00.003-05:00

This summer I was way busier than any normal twenty something should be. It was a whirlwind. And now that the dust has finally settled, I can hardly believe that its the end of September. Where did the past 4 months go? I didn't even get to go swimming once!

I participated in five art stroll/craft shows this summers; four of which were with the lovely Ms.Heather. At one of them I met a lovely woman from South Carolina (who is an Alabama native), who was interested in carrying my HappyCactus products in her boutique in the wonderful town of Beaufort, South Carolina. After negotiating the details, I set to work sewing like a madwoman and finally sent them their initial shipment of 40 bags. And as of this morning BCC & Blush is officially carrying HappyCactus Perfect Pouches and Wee Wonderful Wallets! So, if you are ever in town, stop in and check 'em out!

Also, this summer P and I bought a house. It feels so massive in comparison to the house we were in. It has three bedroom and what used to be a one car garage that has been converted into a room that is now my sewing room. And because I'm too much of a hipster to use boxes (they're just so mainstream), all of our miscellaneous possessions are now stacked in an extra bedroom waiting for us to sort through them and put them in their proper place. Honestly, I thought that if things weren't in boxes then it would motivate me to put them away faster. If they were in boxes then I could just shove the boxes in a closet, shut the door, and forget about them. This way I'm forced to deal with the mess. See! There is some logic to my craziness!

My summer wasn't all work and no play... Katie and I attempted to make Butterbeer cake pops for her wee one's birthday party... they were tasty ... and interesting... and most of them stayed on their sticks. Next time we make them it won't be at 2am the morning before the party. I also discovered Pinterest, which I'm pretty sure is more addicting than crack cocaine. Don't believe me? Try it. I also marathon read The Hunger Games trilogy in 36 hrs. Its been 2 wks and I'm still dreaming about Peeta. Don't judge me, just read them. There was also my birthday which entailed some guy getting kicked out the party for insulting "Pootie Tang."

What about you? What did you do on your summer break?

Hi There....

2011-09-19T11:15:00.001-05:00

So . . . its been a while. And because of that (and a few other things), I feel the need to reintroduce myself. To start over, so to speak. So . . .

Hi! I'm Ari! I'm a creative person trying to eek out a living with my husband (we just got married in April) and our two dogs - Matthias (my baby, a 4yr. old German Shepherd) and Chaka Khan (my husband's 5yr. diva of a Chihuahua). I work as a graphic designer during the day and I'm trying to get my Etsy business (theHappyCactus) off the ground by night. And in the in between, I stay busy trying to learn to cook, attempting to stay fashionable, reading as many books as I can, watching movies, tweeting, and generally getting into shenanigans.

As I mentioned in the previous post (from almost 2 months ago), I'm fairly well socially networked. So, find me and friend me...

Twitter (and my shop)
Etsy
Facebook (shop only... sorry)
Goodreads
Flickr

With my reintroduction to you, I'm making the commitment to stick around and actually start posting again. So I hope you stick around and read . . . and possibly comment . . . that would be awesome . . .

Networked

2011-07-14T14:06:00.004-05:00

Image from here.
I know I've blogged about social networking before, but, with the recent launch of Google+, I've been thinking about it a lot again. I was resisting joining Google+. Even though I'm "on" there, I think I've posted all of 3 times. And honestly, I don't have the time (nor the energy) for another social network. I don't want to have to build up my "friends" list again, and to have remember to post a cool link, event, or idea there as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Its just too much.

Hell, I'm on other networks that I rarely visit. Like LinkedIn and 20SB. Not to mention my blog . . . how long has it been since I've been here?!

Not only that, but I have profiles on Twitter and Facebook for my Etsy shop. So I'm double-ly connected there. It gets to be overwhelming when you throw it the Etsy discussion boards and other shop related things.

So basically, I'm over-networked and no, you probably won't see me on Google+. I'm happy with the social networks I have and use. Feel free to find me there - I'll be your friend. Promise. (Unless you get weird on me, then I will unfriend you). Also, friend my shop please!

Friday Finds

2011-07-01T09:34:00.002-05:00

So, its been a while . . . but here we are again with another installment of Friday Finds . . . and some random updates . . .

-During my fabric shopping a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Monaluna Fabrics. These are gorgeous!! She's super friendly and has really quick shipping . . . and the fabrics are just as beautiful in person as they are online! I'm in love with the "Foxy" fabric from her "Anika" line . . . I think I'm going to have to order another few yards!!

- If you follow me on Twitter or if we're friends on Facebook, then you know I've started doing Hot Yoga. Its brutal, but I'm determined to have a body like Mila Kunis. Determined. And when I have said body, I will be hitting up Sandmaiden Sleepwear on Etsy. She has such cute lingerie!!!

- As of late I've become really involved in my local Etsy group, the NA Crafters! We have a blog (that you should check out). Follow us on Twitter! Friend us on Facebook! And, if you're local, stay tuned!! We're going to have our own event at the end of July!!

- I've decided to make an attempt at Project 365 . . . I'm taking all of the pictures with the phone on my camera. This way I don't have the excuse that I don't have a camera with me and I can upload them immediately from my phone. Also, I don't have the chance to edit them with Photoshop, so it forces me to work on my composition. Check out my progress on Flickr.

- Going with the topic of photography, this book is a must have for any photographer. Linda McCartney is one of my inspirations . . . maybe I'll buy it for myself for my birthday . . .

There you go!! I hope you have a great 4th of July weekend!!

Project: Food Budget: Week?

2011-06-23T09:32:00.003-05:00

I've fallen off the bandwagon and have been absent for about a month now. At the beginning of the month, I had another go around with my migraines. So then I was readjusting my meds and getting used to them again and sleeping . . . A LOT. And one of the lovely side effects of the medicine I'm on is appetite suppression (its being looked at as a weight loss drug). So needless to say, I haven't been terrible hungry, so I haven't been spending money on food. At least not at the grocery store. We've been eating out for almost every meal.

On top of it all, we've been busy. P's started a new job. And art stroll season is in full swing for me. And I've start hot yoga!

Now that we've had a chance to settle into rhythm again, P and I have decided to go to the grocery store this weekend and start cooking at home again. So even though the challenge is over, we're going to keep tabs on ourselves and keep our budget in check. These past 6 months really taught me to pay attention not only to how much I was spending but also to what I was spending my money on. So thanks Emily for hosting this event!!

Balancing Act

2011-06-08T12:35:00.004-05:00

We all do it. A balancing act between our different roles - wife vs. mom; professional vs. home; sweat pants vs. people are looking. Whatever. Its part of life.

But here lately it seems like my balancing act has gotten more difficult. Or maybe I've just become more reluctant to do it. Or maybe I'm trying to balance too many things. Whatever the cause is, I'm getting frustrated.

I don't think I'm balancing more than anyone else - I'm a wife, so I cook dinner, plan meals, grocery shop, and keep the house clean-ish. All things I enjoy and all things that my husband helps out with. I'm an entrepreneur, meaning I have an Etsy shop and I sell my wares at a brick and mortar store and some art strolls. I also have huge ideas for my shop and would love for this to be my primary source of income, but right now I just don't have the time to devote to it because I have a full time job. Which leads me to the last "hat" I wear, I'm a professional. I have a 8-5, Monday through Friday, desk job. And while it pays well and has wonderful benefits, it is not my favorite things in the world. I'm grateful to have it, but there are times that I really wish I could pursue independent employment.

To me at this point in my life, I think that my balancing act would be easier, and more enjoyable, if I could reduce the number of things I'm balancing. Unfortunately, its not practical for me to me to do that right now. And that's what's so frustrating. I daydream constantly, that if we make some adjustments to our finances, if it would be possible. If I could put aside my fears and walk away from my safety net of a job and attempt to live the life I want.

Or will I be to scared.

The Much Anticipated Wedding Post

2011-06-06T12:23:00.001-05:00

So here it finally is, my post about the wedding.

We had the ceremony in P's aunt's front yard and the weather couldn't have been better. It was in the high 70s and sunny . . . maybe a little too warm but its way better than cold (which is what I was orginially worried about).

We did pictures before hand, so everyone would still look nice and fresh . . .

And, of course, no wedding of mine would be complete without mustaches!!!

As everyone was arriving, I ran around like chicken with my head cutoff and greeted everyone . . . so this is right before the ceremony. (Also, P has said that this is his favorite picture)

Our ceremony was lightening fast. Like 5 minutes long. Which is kinda ridiculous if you think about it . . . I spent 4 months planning for 5 minutes. Well, really I spent 4 months planning 4 hours if you include before, the ceremony, and the reception. I walked down to "In An Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel . . . and the whole time my dad was whispering really sweet things and I was telling him to be quite or I'd start crying!

My Mother-in-Law and her sisters made all of the food for the reception. And my Mother-in-Law made our wedding cake!! It was a white cake with orange-almond frosting (handmade from scratch!!!). It was so delicious!! And the lovely Ms. Heather made our adorable wedding cake toppers!!
My mom's side of the family with the mustaches . . . and Gumbo blatantly refusing to hold up the mustache.

After the wedding and family reception, we went back to our house to relax and change clothes. There my lovely and sweet bridesmaids attacked Matt's car (which he didn't wash for 3 weeks. Yeah. We drove around with "Just Married" on our car for 3 WEEKS!!). Sidenote - they were going to tie PBR cans to his bumper but didn't want to come inside to get string 'cause they thought we might figure it out, but the front window was open, so I was watching the whole time. Then we headed off to the "after party" at one of the groomsmen's houses. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from that (yet). But it was so much fun. The best man and maid of honor gave us really sweet toasts, we drank a lot, and were covered in birdseed.

This really was my "dream wedding."

Project: Food Budget: Week 20

2011-05-27T09:56:00.004-05:00

Spent: $49 ($20 eating out $29 at the grocery store)
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

This week I was under my goal!! And I cooked 2 meals that fed us multiple times - Crock Pot Chicken and Biscuits and Curry Chicken. The Curry Chicken was a new recipe and I have to admit, it is not a keeper. It was good, but not great (the leftovers are much better than the original). The curry flavor is not as strong as I wanted it to be.

Yesterday I went to a new farmer's market and bought some pork sausage, Yukon gold potatoes, peaches, and radishes. I had a peach for breakfast this morning and it was seriously one of the best peaches I have ever eaten. I can't wait to back to the market next week (its only open on Thursdays).

Planned Meals:
- pasta salad (for lunches)
- something with pork sausage and potatoes
- a Greek salad (to use the radishes)

For more information about Project: Food Budget, read Ms.Emily's post here.

Other Participating Blogs:
{custom made} life
Veggie Converter
Dairy-Free Cooking
Motor City Girl In the Steel City
Veggie Burgher
Test Kitchen Tuesday
Newly Vegan
Veggie on the Cheap
MeloMeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day
The Veggie Life
Caroline Cain Holistic Health
Going Veggie
Under The Apple Tree
Be the Change

Project: Food Budget: Week 19

2011-05-18T12:47:00.005-05:00

Spent: $40

Budget: $75 (with a goal $50)

We were way under budget and goal this week. This is in part because we ate with my in-laws twice (which means we didn't pay). But those were the only 2 times we ate out, we've cooked every other meal at home! I made Cuban Fried Rice for dinner one night and it was enough for us both to eat seconds but for me to have lunch for 2 days! This is definitely a keeper!!

P has started a new job that involves him working more nights. So that means that I'll be cooking more crock-pot meals and vegetarian meals-for-one (I like to eat vegetarian when its just me - its just easier). So its going to be interesting to see how this impacts my budget.

Planned meals:

- Chicken Curry in a Hurry

- Pasta Salad

- Broccoli Salad (maybe - I'm feeling very summery but the weather is not...)

For more information about Project: Food Budget check out Ms. Emily's post here!

Project: Food Budget: Week 18

2011-05-16T10:16:00.003-05:00

Spent: $50
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

We actual hit our goal this week!!! I'm in shock! I thought we were going to be way over because of restocking our fridge from the Blackout. Instead of rushing out and buying everything that I threw away, I've decided to slowly accumulate the things I threw away as I need them (or as they're on sale/ I have a coupon for them). I have yet to get to back into my rthym of meal planning, grocery shopping, and posting that I had before the wedding/Blackout. But I'm sure I'll get there soon . . .

We at at home for every meal except one this past week. I made the Chicken Quesadilla Casserole, Chicken, Cheese, and Pea Turnovers, Chicken Quesadillas (with the leftover chicken), and we grilled Steak and corn (with a side of Mac n' Cheese). A bonus of cooking all this chicken is that I've been able to replenish my "stock" bags, so I'll be able to make some chicken stock again soon!

Planned Meals:

- Chicken Tortilla Soup (with more leftover chicken)

- Something with Pork (I think we've had enough chicken!)

- To Be Determined . . . P starts a new job this week, so one meal will probably be vegetarian since it will be for just me . . .

For more information on Project: Food Budget - go here and read Ms.Emily's post!!

Project: Food Budget: Weeks 15-17

2011-05-06T18:32:00.003-05:00

I've been slacking on my blogging I know, but with good reason. Let me explain . . .

Week 15

This was the week of my wedding, and to be quite honest I don't think I even bought groceries. I know we ate out, but I don't remember what we spent. That week is a blur to me now . . .

P.S. I promise I will post about the wedding! Its coming soon! I was going to do it last week but the whole blackout thing prevented me . . .

Week 16

Spent: $50

Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

We actually did go grocery shopping and cook!! I finally made the Chicken Quesadilla Casserolee that I've been talking about forever and it was delicious! We also had steak and mash potatoes and P had planned on making Spicy Pork again and then The Blackout happened . . .

We ate the pork for breakfast Thursday morning so it wouldn't go to waste. We ate everything we could so it wouldn't go to waste . . . but we still lost a lot of food (like all of my frozen homemade chicken stock and a ton of sandwich meat). Luckily, we were able to keep all of my frozen soups (the in-laws were lucky enough to be able to borrow a generator, so I put them in their freezer).

Week 17

Spent: $45

Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

While we are under budget, this has been a "short week." We just got power back Sunday night and I didn't go to store until Monday and that was just for essentials. We've only cooked one meal at home (other meals were cooked at my in-laws during The Blackout) and it was delicious meal of Hamburger Helper (its weird the things you crave when you can't have them).

This coming week will be back to normal with more meals cooked at home. I'm planning on cooking the Chicken Quesadilla Casserole again (its so simple and tasty!) and I'm sure P will want to cook Spicy Pork. I'm pretty sure my budget will be blown next week as I continue to restock my fridge and freezer but I'm going to try to control it with some heavy couponing.

Wish me luck!

For more about Project: Food Budget read about here!

Things I Learned During the Blackout

2011-05-02T20:46:00.004-05:00

"Aerial of a neighborhood near the McCauley Mill and Capshaw Road intersection in East Limestone County." (The Huntsville Time/Michael Mercier) link

As many of you know, last Wednesday tornadoes ripped through north Alabama. Luckily the area I live in was not hit. We lost power for 4 days (my area of town got power back last night) and some parts of north Alabama are still without power - like Heather's house.

The above photo is approximately 20 minutes away from where I live. P and I drove through the area on Saturday on our way to visit his grandparents. It absolutely took my breathe away. I had never seen devastation of that magnitude before.

I've witnessed tornadoes before, its just one of those things you learn to deal with when you live down here (like people up North learn to deal with snow). In '89 there was a huge one that tore through the middle of Huntsville. Maybe it was because I was so young, but I don't remember ever seeing the destruction.

Nonetheless, I've learned a lot over the past few days.

- It is amazing what you can live without. We quickly adjusted to life without internet, tv, xboxes, and lights. Granted it took a little longer to get used to going to the bathroom by flashlight, but I still got used to it. It was like camping, except I had my house instead of a tent.

- Family and friends are the best thing ever. Period. We spent a lot of time with my best friend and P's best friend. And all 4 of us spent a lot of time at my lovely in-laws. They were wonderful. We ate a lot of family meals. My father-in-law also borrowed a generator from someone, so we were able to keep some food in their fridge and charge our cell phones. That was such a blessing.

- Grilled Hot Pockets are surprisingly good. Seriously. Try it. Way better than microwaving.

- I do not own enough board/card games to entertain us. We played Yahtzee and Phase 10 and that's it.

- Twitter and Facebook were great for keeping up with local news and updates from the utilities company.

- You can tell a lot about people when there's a crisis. Some people are extremely kind and helpful and others are rude and greedy. It amazes me. I'm so embarrassed that there was looting here within hours of loosing power. There are not words to express how sad that makes me.

- When there's no city lights, the stars are gorgeous!!!

- Hot showers are wonderful!

- I'm so thankful that the only thing I lost was electricity. All of my friends and family are safe and sound.

And while I welcome the buzz of electricity in our house again, I do miss the quite that the blackout brought.

Please, please help Alabama out! There are people who lost everything. To donate $10 to tornado relief text: REDCROSS to 90999. or for the Salvation Army text: GIVE to 80888.

Thai Food, Sex Dice, Drag Queens, & Gorilla Farts

2011-04-18T12:58:00.004-05:00

Saturday night was my Bachelorette and the title pretty much sums it up, but I feel it needs a bit of explanation. First let me introduce my lovely bridesmaids - above from left to right there's the ever so fabulous Ms.Heather, Ms.Elizabeth (my Maid of Honor), Me (and no, no one told my hair was sticking out on the side), Ms.Sara, and Ms.Kristi.

So, the evening began with a lovely meal at one of my favorite Thai restaurants and then we headed out to the gay club to dance the night away.

Unbeknownst to us, there was a drag show planned for the evening. We were entertained by the fabulous styling of Beyonce, Paula Abdul, and, of course, Cher. And then, like manna from heaven, came little packages of sex dice and thongs raining down on our table . . .

After the show and few shots, it was time to dance. And dance we did. Like the world was ending. And yes, there are pictures, but I am not going to share them with the interwebs for future employers (or my mother) to find. Sorry.

The night came to a grinding halt when one of my of-so-kind bridesmaids (cough cough Kristi) bought me a Gorilla Fart shot. Which is the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth - Jaeger, 151, and Crown. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. After that I was useless. I sat in my chair with my precious glass of water and glared at her until a cab was called and we went on our merry way home.

So that was my bachelorette. And while my thighs are still sore, I did not have a hangover. It was wonderful. Thank you ladies, for making it great and memorable!

Friday Finds

2011-04-15T10:07:00.004-05:00

- I know I'm late to the game, but Bakerella? Seriously, she's awesome. I spent way too many hours last Sunday drooling over her site . . .

- I found Kimberly Nolan Designs a few weeks ago through Etsy. She's from my neck of the woods and makes the most beautiful clothes. I'm saving my money for the Turquoise Babydoll dress. . .

- A while ago (like 6 yrs. ago) I acquired this mustard yellow chair, and I've been waiting to recover it . . . here's a tutorial . . . one day . . . when I have time . . . and unicorns bring me snow cones . . .

- Speaking of home decor projects, this is just awesome - turn IKEA into Eye Candy!

- One more crafty thing! DIY mini Polaroid picture magnets! This one I really will do . . .

Project: Food Budget: Week 14

2011-04-14T09:42:00.005-05:00

Spent: $76 ($30 at the grocery store $46 dining out)
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

This is probably the most normal week we've had in a while. I only cooked once this past week. We made the Spicy Chipotle Meatballs with Rice. P thinks the recipe can be "doctored," so next time we make it, we'll do it with P's modifications.

This next week is the week before our wedding, but I'm still going to try to cook at least one meal. The Planned Meal: Chicken Quesadilla Pie

For more information on Project: Food Budget check out this post.

Other Participating Blogs:
-Emily Levenson
-Maria Marz
-Veggie Converter
-Dairy-Free Cooking
-Motor City Girl in the Steel City
-Veggie Burgher
-The Vegetarian Salmon
-Test Kitchen Tuesday
-Newly Vegan
-Always Sick and Tired
-Veggie on the Cheap
-MeloMeal: Vegan for $3.33 A Day
-A Guy, A Girl, and a Dinner Plate
-The Amateur Low Carb Flexitarian
-The Veggie Life
-Caroline Cain: Holistic Health

100 Facts About Me - Part 1

2011-04-12T12:52:00.005-05:00

If you follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you've noticed by now that I've been sporadically tweeting 100 facts about me. I've decided to compile them into a list of 25 each week. Just for convince . . . in case you ever needed to find them or whatever . . .

Nonetheless, here's the first 25:
1. I'm the oldest of 10 kids. We're a mix of steps and halves, but there are 10 of us.
2. I hate bananas with a fiery passion.
3. I was born in Honolulu, HI
4. Snakes and spiders don't bother me but Cave Crickets make me scream like a little girl.
5. I memorized Lewis Carol's "Jaberwocky" when I was 7 yrs. old. I still know it.
6. I'm an amature photographer who loves film.
7. Cherry tomatoes are one of my favorite foods.
8. I taught myself to knit while I attempted to quit smoking.
9. My dad named me after the Ariane Rocket.
10. The majority of my wardrobe is either gray, black, white, or green.
11. I'm obsessed with the Muppets. Kermit is my soul mate (Don't tell P).
12. I've been driving the same car for 10 yrs. I paid for it with cash.
13. I have never dyed my hair.
14. I worked as a mascot & birthday party hostess during my late teens/early twenties at a local amusement park.
15. When I was little I wanted to be a forensic pathologist . . . somehow I became a graphic designer.
16. There's always a sketchbook in my purse.
17. I have 2 tattoos, 3 holes in each ear, and a nose ring
18. I dream of one day being self-employed.
19. @HedgePiggle is my oldest friend - we're going on 22-ish yrs.
20. I have never owned a Nirvana album.
21. I am not a morning person.
22. My first "big word" was " 'crasinate." Even at a young age, I knew what was up.
23. My german shepherd, Matthias, is like my kid and I don't care if you judge me for that.
24. I love to dance but sadly I got all my moves from the Muppets.
25. I first saw Van Gogh's paintings when I was in 5th grade and that's what inspired me to be an artist.

Is Anybody Out There?

2011-04-12T10:53:00.005-05:00

With the exception of my Project: Food Budget posts, I've been M.I.A. So I wouldn't be surprised if all my readers have left for greener and more consistent pastures. Life has been busy here at Casa de Cactus. But now that things are winding down to their usual hectic pace, I should be able to start posting again.

That being said, let me fill you in on what's been going on.

For starters, P and I are getting married in 11 days!! Amazingly there are only a few things left to do. Most of the credit does belong to mine and P's mothers. They have been absolutely amazing and helpful through the entire process. This weekend is the bachelor/bachelorette parties. There will be (some) pictures and of course, I will post tons of pictures of the actual wedding.

The other thing that's been occupying most of my time is that my Happy Cactus bags are taking off. They're being sold at a local store The Switch House (which if you're local, you should definitely go check it out) and they've been flying off the shelf there. In addition to that I'm also doing art strolls and open air markets like I did last year with Ms.Heather. In short, I've been sewing tons . . . and marketing . . . and just generally staying busy.

I did have some time a few weeks ago to play with that Kolor film I got from the Four Corner store - one of the pictures is at the top of the post. I'm in love with the results. I can't wait to get my hands on more. I'll post the rest of them on Flickr soon.

So, now that I'm back, lets not be strangers . . . What have you been up to?

Project: Food Budget: Weeks 12 & 13

2011-04-11T10:48:00.006-05:00

So, I've been slacking and haven't posted for the past 2 weeks, but I have been keeping up with everything in my handy dandy day planner. Truth be told, I've been really busy trying to finalize wedding plans and get ready for my first Art Stroll. So, without further delay, here are Weeks 12 and 13 . . .

Week 12
Spent: $55.80 ($41.80 at the grocery store; $14.00 eating out)
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

I cooked a lot this week and brought my lunch to work almost everyday. We did eat out more than our spending shows, but we ate with his parents and they paid (which is nice). This week I made some more Stuffed Mushrooms and Turnovers. I also made some pasta salad to bring to work.

Week 13
Spent: $74 ($50 at the grocery store; $24 eating out)
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

This week we only cooked twice. And once was when we had company (P made Beef Bulgogli and Spicy Korean Pork - so tasty and we had tons of leftovers). The other time I made a large pot of Taco Soup. We ate a lot of leftovers this week. Now that the Art Stroll is over, I plan on cooking more this week.

Planned Meals:
- Spicy Chipotle Meatballs with Rice
- Chicken Quesadilla Pie (I'm feeling Mexican-esque food this week . . .)

For more information on Project: Food Budget, check out this post.

Other Participating Blogs:
-Maria Marz
-Veggie Converter
-Dairy-Free Cooking
-Motor City Girl In the Steel City
-Veggie Burgher
-The Vegetarian Salmon
-Test Kitchen Tuesday
-Newly Vegan
-Always Sick and Tired
-Veggie on the Cheap
-MeloMeal: Vegan For $3.33 A Day
-A Guy, A Girl, And a Dinner Plate
-The Amateur Low Carb Flexitarian
-The Veggie Life
-Emily Levenson

Project: Food Budget: Week 11

2011-03-27T18:21:00.004-05:00

Spent: $54 (all on dining out)

Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

This past week was busy for us and I didn't have a chance to go to the grocery store. Luckily, I had purchased the ingredients to make the Chicken and Gruyere Turnovers in the freezer. I made them Wednesday night P and a friend of ours and they were a big hit. I did substitute baby swiss cheese for gruyere for the sake of my budget (gruyere is expensive!!). These will definitely be making a reappearance on our menu . . . this week.

Planned Meals:

- Chicken and Swiss Cheese Turnovers

- Pasta Salad (for my lunches)

- Stuffed Mushrooms (I'm having a craving)

- Chicken Salad (for the leftover chicken)

- Taco Soup (at the request of P's best friend)

For more about Project: Food Budget check out this post.

Other participating blogs:

Motor City Girl In the Steel City

Veggie Burgher

The Happy Cactus

The Vegetarian Salmon

Test Kitchen Tuesday

Newly Vegan

Always Sick and Tired

Veggie on the Cheap

MeloMeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day

A Guy, A Girl, And a Dinner Plate

The Amateur Low Carb Flexitarian

Project: Food Budget: Week 10 (a little late)

2011-03-20T20:21:00.004-05:00

I've been a bad blogger . . . so this post is a few days late. But I was incredibly on budget this past week. Through the use of coupons for both grocery shopping and eating out we were able to be under budget.

Spent: $67 ($25 grocery Holla!! $42 eating out)

Budget: $75 (with a goal of $50)

Sadly, I only cooked one meal - Crock Pot Chicken and Biscuits but it made a lot. And we ate on all week. And it was delicious. Definitely a keeper! I did cheat and use frozen Pillsbury biscuits but I had a coupon for them.

Our schedule is getting more hectic as the weather gets warmer. Art Stroll season and our wedding are getting closer, so I'm looking for more recipes that can feed us through out the week (like pasta salads) or things that I can make and freeze for a quick dinner. Suggestions are always welcome!

This week's planned meals:

- Chicken and Gruyere Turnovers (they freeze well, or so the recipe says)

- a pasta salad of some sort

I promise to be on time for Week 11!

For more information on Project: Food Budget check out this post.

Participating blogs: (look! it finally worked!)

Friday Finds

2011-03-10T22:28:00.005-06:00

An early post today! I'm off to photograph my first wedding! Here's this Friday's Finds:

- HiFi Weddings - these lovely ladies are local to Huntsville and are incredibly talented. Such an inspiration!

- Super Buzzy fabric - so cute!

- Sally at Already Pretty - she inspires me be more creative with my wardrobe.

- Yevgenia's etsy shop - its all so beautiful!

*Follow up: The ever wonderful P bought me this necklace I mentioned 2 weeks ago!! Its even more wonderful in person!

Project: Food Budget: Week 9

2011-03-10T16:22:00.002-06:00

Spent: $73 ($28 on groceries (what! what!!) and $45 eating out)
Budget: $75 (with a goal of $50)

While I was under budget, I think we could have done better. But then again, I say this every week when I look at the numbers. And, to be fair, we didn't do our usual "cheap eats" when we went out this week. We had Vietnamese, wings, and giant stuffed baked potatoes. I was really impressed with my grocery shopping skills. I bought enough meat for 3 meals and other random things for under $30!!

Friday, I made both of the recipes I mentioned last week (the Apple Pork chops and Stuffed Mushrooms). As it turns out, my best friend now has Friday nights off, so we've decided to start making it our "girls night." Each week we'll make an appetizer, drink some wine, and get silly with some Wii games. We ended up making 30 mushrooms last week and we devoured all of them in under 30 minutes. They were delicious!! I definitely recommend them. Unfortunately, this week, Wine & Wii night is going to be on hold - its one of my other bridesmaid's birthdays, so we're going to celebrate with her. But next week, its on like popcorn!

Also, P absolutely loved the pork chops! I made 4 of them and he ate 3 on Friday night!! I'd say that this recipe is a keeper!

This Week's Planned Meals:
- Chicken and Gruyere Turnovers (these just look tasty! and there's a sweet potato version for vegetarians!)
- Slow-Cooker Creamy Chicken with Biscuits
- Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas

Want to learn more about Project: Food Budget? Go here! To see the other participants go here!

Friday Finds - Kick Ass Edition!!

2011-03-04T09:42:00.003-06:00

If you ask me, this is the best Friday Finds yet. . .

- I stumbled upon the CookBook Adicts Etsy shop this week. Vintage cookbooks?! Yes, please!

- Continuing on the theme of cooking, while I was looking for recipes for this coming week, I found The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog. Sweet Mother Mary! I think I'm in love. . .

- Lykke Li and Adele's new albums are amazing. Definitely check them out. (I can't stop dancing to "Get Some" by Lykke Li)

- We all know that I have an addiction to toy cameras. Well, my friends, it has gotten worse and I completely blame the Four Corner Store. Check out their Revolg Custom Film- I want it all!!!! (I did order a roll of Kolor film last night and of course, I'll post the results).

Project: Food Budget: Week 8

2011-03-03T09:46:00.002-06:00

Spent: $87.61
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

If I didn't include what we spent eating out, then I would have made my goal of $50. I did really well with bringing my lunch to work (I only bought it once) and we ate out only 3 times but it still adds up. I made a huge pot of Chicken and Sausage Gumbo on Saturday with the whole chicken that I got (and froze) 2 weeks ago. And I took the chicken scraps (bones and what have you) along with my veggie scrap bag and made chicken stock and froze it for future use (I feel so resourceful!). I also, finally, made Emily's Mom's Risi e Bisi and it was delicious!

I also bought a lot of pantry items last week because I had coupons for it. Things like canned soup, boxes of Hamburger Helper (P loves it), and stock (it was on sale and you can never have too much). So, all in all, I feel really good about my spending last week.

This Week's Planned Meals:
-Stuffed Mushrooms (I'm having a craving and already have most of the ingredients)
-Juicy Apple Pork Chops (I have a coupon for 3lbs. of apples and pork chops are on sale)

Curious about Project: Food Budget? Here's where it all started. For other participating blogs (because my computer still won't let me copy and paste the list) go here.

On Burning the Candle at Both Ends

2011-03-01T10:22:00.003-06:00

Last week in my Project: Food Budget post I mentioned how I have a busy 5 months ahead. I have my own wedding (in 54 days); I'm the photographer for 2 more weddings and I've applied to do 9 Art Strolls. In addition to that, a local business has started carrying my bags, so I need to rebuild my stock on Etsy and for the strolls. And all of this is in addition to having a full time job and a life. Needless to say, I have too much going on.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may know that I'm also a "high strung" person who stress and worries and attempts to be a perfectionist. I want everything to be perfect - I want to be able to accomplish everything without anything suffering or being neglected and to have dinner ready when P gets home and to have the house clean. Its a deep-seated drive inside of me. It maybe because my mom is high-strung; it maybe because I was told that nothing I did was "good enough" for a long time. Regardless of how I came to have this need to be perfect, I still have it. I've made a lot of progress in not letting it get to me too bad when I don't achieve perfection, but I haven't completely gotten rid of it. In addition to my perfection fixation, I also think that I can take on more - more cooking, more home-making, more art . . . more, more, more . . . (remember my post about the magical land of "After Christmas"?). (To be clear, P doesn't ask any of this and is just fine if I don't do any of it - I'm just neurotic).

I also set myself the goal of trying to earn half of my income from sales of my bags. I really don't think its completely achievable (unless they start selling like hot cakes), but I do think I can make a good run at it. So, I've been putting a lot of energy into it.

All of these things combined, has finally taken its toll on me and given me some health problems (nothing major, just a lot of exhaustion, cluster headaches, and an upset tummy) and forced me to slow down.

So now, I'm working on delegating with my wedding planning (mine and P's mom's are SAINTS), setting realistic goals with bag production, and, most importantly, taking time for myself to relax.

Friday Finds

2011-02-25T09:46:00.003-06:00

Image from Corelladesign

- This lovely etsy shop by Corelladesign. I love her lines!
- Fashion and textile designer Charlotte Taylor. This stuff is gorgeous!!
- Wee trees from Gurney's (I ordered an olive and an orange tree!)
- The centerpieces for my wedding! (just imagine them with daisies and blue ribbon)
- Real Simple's Food & Recipes Blog - their crock-pot recipes all look delicious!
- This necklace - I need it.

Project: Food Budget: Week 7

2011-02-24T09:35:00.003-06:00

Spent: $74.54
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

While I was barely under budget this week, I feel like I failed. I didn't cook a single time in the past week, unless you count heating some leftovers up in the microwave. I have a busy 5 months or so coming up (my wedding, potentially 9 art shows, and photographing 2 other weddings), and every thing needed attention last week. When it came to eating, I had no motivation to cook. I did eat a fair amount of leftovers, but we also ate out a lot.

This week, I'm feeling more motivated. I sat down and planned out my menu yesterday, made my grocery list, and obsessively sorted my coupons (I make 2 piles - Definitely Using and Possibly Using). I'm ready to grocery shopping after work and I even plan on (finally) making Risi e Bisi (I've seriously been dreaming about it).

This week's planned meals:
-Risi e Bisi
-Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
- I'm not sure yet, but I kinda want to make a casserole, so if you have any good recipes, please let me know!

Interested in Project: Food Budget? Here's where it all started! Since my computer won't let me copy and past the list of other participating blogs, the lovely Ms.Emily has the list on her post.

Friday Finds!

2011-02-18T09:39:00.004-06:00

For the second installment of Friday Finds, a collection of things that have fascinated me this week.

-Based on a comment from the lovely Ms.Stephanie on my Tiny Kitchen post, I started looking at "pour-over" coffee and I found this gorgeous coffee maker (the above picture). Now, I want to try it. There's a coffee shop near me that roasts their own beans and I've been dying to buy some. This method of coffee brewing is supposed to highlight the subtleties of the roast. Maybe when my tax return gets here, I'll buy one.

-I discovered Oh Joy! this week - a blog full of eye-candy.

-Because of Oh Joy! I found the Etsy shop of Studio Legohead. I can't express how much I love her style - it makes me want to draw again. I've been daydreaming about it for days! I must own one of her prints!

-Camen Sandiego on Facebook!!!

Enjoy and have a lovely weekend! Its supposed to be sunny and in the 60s here, so if nothing else, I'll have all the windows open as I sew my heart out!

Are we friends on Facebook yet? Why not?! Friend the HappyCactus Shoppe!

Project: Food Budget - Week 6

2011-02-17T19:38:00.003-06:00

This was a depressing week. It started out on a really high note when I went grocery shopping - I got a ton of food for $36 (between coupons and shopping the sales I saved close to $13)! I thought that I had cooked a lot too. But when I sat down to total up the numbers today, I realized that we spent close to $50 from eating out. I'm still in shock!

Spent: $86 (boo!!)

Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

What We Ate:

Thursday: I bought lunch. Grilled cheese with pepper jelly and tomato soup for dinner

Friday: I bought lunch again and went out for dinner with some friends (who paid for mine!)

Saturday: Wendy's for lunch (P was craving a Baconator). I cooked a HUGE batch of Taco Soup, so we had that for dinner
Sunday: I made chicken salad out of the leftover SuperBowl chicken for lunch. P brought us home Subway for dinner.
Monday: Soup for lunch! Since it was Valentine's and P was working, some friends and I went to Bandito Burrito for dinner.

Tuesday: More soup for lunch! For dinner, the lovely Ms.Heather and I had planned on grilled cheese and pepper jelly sandwiches, but at the last minute decided to eat a Earth Fare.
Wednesday: The last of the soup for lunch. For dinner, P and I went to a great (and cheap!) little Japanese place.

Planned Food:

-Risi e Bisi - I'm still fantasizing about it. . .

-Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and carrots - I have a fantastic coupon from Earth Fare for a free chicken dinner with a $10 purchase.

- A soup of some sort. P's best friend requested another soup (he really liked the Taco Soup :D)

For more information on Project: Food Budget, please go check out this post by the lovely Emily and to see the other participants!

Living in a Small Space: Kitchen

2011-02-14T11:59:00.008-06:00

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a pack rat. Its bad. I make plans to re-use all sorts of stuff and then never follow through, but I can't bear to throw it away (please note the glass bottles in the above pic - they were going to become lamps. Igave them away to a friend that will actually complete the project). 2 years ago I moved into a tiny house, but it was just me, so there was plenty of room.

Then P moved in. And while he doesn't have a lot of stuff (mainly clothes - the number of shirts he has is unbelievable!), the lack of storage space in our house makes it feel a bit cramped. And he's a chef, so kitchens and kitchen accoutrements are important to him. So in preparation for our wedding, I've been going through and getting rid of things.

In the process of my cleaning spree this weekend, I decided that I needed to blog about how incredibly tiny my kitchen is. I'm not quite sure the square footage (I'm horrible at guessing things like that), but 2 people make it feel crowded.

The limited space has forced me to really evaluate what I really need. We have a few sheet pans and muffin tins, 3 skillets, a cast iron skillet (that's stored in the oven), 2 "normal" sized pots, a stock pot, and a crock pot. And that's it. The only other appliances we have are a panini press, food processor, bread maker, and my coffee pot. All of this is stored in 2 small cabinets (one next to the stove and one above the pantry).

When the weather is nice, we can open the backdoor so the space at least feels bigger. Luckily, my house also came with the propane grill out back, which we utilize a lot when the weather is nice.

So while I'd love to have things like a toaster or a stand-up mixer, there's just not room for it. The more time I spend in my wee kitchen, the more I love it and the fact that I've been forced to only buy what I need, not everything that catches my eye.

The view from the living room looking towards the laundry room

Literally, all of the counter space I have.

With such a little amount of counter space, it makes cooking a little difficult. I've learned to do all of my prep (chopping and such) before I ever think about putting a pot on the stove. Another fun fact is that the stove "eyes" stay hot for a long time after you turn them off, so finding space to set things gets a little creative as well. I normally use my microwave as storage and also a very handy place to tape up my recipes while cooking (as shown in the picture).

My pantry. Its maybe 4 feet tall. Fortunately the shelves slide out, so finding things isn't that difficult.

My laundry room - just big enough for me, a laundry bin, and the trash can.

The picture at the begining of the post is taken from the laundry room looking towards the living room.

Friday Finds!

2011-02-11T13:07:00.003-06:00

Here's my first installment of Friday Finds! Enjoy!

- I just discovered Turntable Kitchen's blog. They blog about food and music - what could be better?! (Check out the monthly mixes)

- This adorable Toadstool Seat from Tao of Craft (found via How About Orange - which is another wonderful blog)

- Minimalist Muppets print. I need this.

- Inspirational article from Etsy's Blog series "Quit Your Day Job." She sounds just like me.

- I love Burt's Bees with a passion. I wear their lip shimmers constantly (Peony is my color of choice). When I went to order my usual 2 tubes, I saw that they have a new lip product out - Tinted Lip Balm. So I ordered 2 tubes and am eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Happy Friday!

Are we friends on Facebook yet? Why not? Friend The Happy Cactus Shoppe.

Project: Food Budget: Week 5

2011-02-10T10:51:00.002-06:00

This was a very unusual week for us. My (almost) brother-in-law's birthday was Thursday, so we out to eat with him and the (almost) In-Laws. And then this past weekend was a sports extravaganza at my house (as mentioned in the previous post). We were surrounded by food and we didn't pay for any of it. So needless to say, we were way under budget this week.

Spent: $56 (the closest I've gotten to my goal yet!)

Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

What We Ate:

Thursday: I bought lunch. We went out to dinner with P's parents and brother to P.F. Chang's. I took home 4 things of leftovers!

Friday: I had P.F. Chang's leftovers for both lunch and dinner. I cooked some plain white rice to make it more of a meal.

Saturday: More leftovers!
Sunday: Our friend brought over a crap-load of food for the Super Bowl - we had burgers, brats, shrimp, chicken wings, and a veggie platter.
Monday: I bought lunch. P and I went to the best Greek place in HSV for dinner and had Gyros. (If you're in town go to Papa Gyros - you won't be disappointed)

Tuesday: I snacked on some leftover veggies from the veggie platter for lunch. For dinner, I made Ginger-Lime Noodles. I learned that if you use sesame oil, then you need to use an equal amount of lime juice to cut the oil some.
Wednesday: Leftover noodles for lunch. For dinner, P and I had BBQ Turkey stuffed baked potatoes from this place.

Planned Food:

-Grilled cheese with pepper jelly and tomato soup (hopefully for the lovely Ms.Heather)

-Chicken Salad made with the leftover chicken from the Super Bowl chicken wings.

-Taco Soup

-Risi e Bisi - every since I saw this post I've been fantasizing about it . . .

Now, if the ice will just clear up so I can go to the grocery store . . .

For more information on Project: Food Budget, please go check out this post by the lovely Emily and to see the other participants!

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-02-07T14:04:00.004-06:00

For the past month or so, I've been really bummed-out feeling. Just plain "blah." It felt like depression was setting in. And yeah, there are somethings I'm kinda depressed about - mainly my job. (I don't feel like I'm reaching my full potential at this place of employment.) But other than that, everything is fine - my life is good.

So this past weekend, I decided to break the cycle. I diligently made out a to-do list on Friday and set my alarm clock for a decent time (not my usual noon) and prepared to be productive.

I started Friday night with actually working out and sewing. And even though we had company over Friday night (well, it was P's best friend so he's not really "company" anymore), I still went to bed at my usual bedtime. Saturday, I got up with my alarm clock and after having some coffee, I went about checking items off of my to-do list. Saturday night was more company (we bought the pay-per-view of the UFC fights, so all of P's friends came over to watch them). But even after a late night, I still got up "on time" Sunday and continued my productive streak. I shot pictures and listed new items on my etsy shop and even managed to clean a little before P's friends returned for the Super Bowl (I have a big TV so everyone likes watching sports at my house).

And it felt really good to wake up this morning knowing that I had accomplished things this weekend, instead of having my usual guilt because I was "lazy." Really good.

I even made a sale from my new items!! (Hells yes!)

If you haven't already go check out the new Wonderful Wallets and Magnificent Make-Up Bags! Also, don't forget to "like" my shop on Facebook and follow it on Twitter! (Pssst . . . there's going to be a give-away soon!)

*In the picture at the top of the post (from left to right): (top row) Simply Sweet Valentine's Cards; Trunks 'n 'Brellas Magnificent Make-Up Bag; (bottom row) Punk Rock Love Magnificent Make-Up Bag; Feisty Birds Wonderful Wallet

Project: Food Budget: Week 4

2011-02-03T10:01:00.003-06:00

This was our worst week yet. I got lazy and didn't cook, so I didn't have any leftovers to bring for lunch so I bought lunch all 5 days that I worked. And because I didn't cook, P and I ate out most nights too. We spent $50 on eating out and my wallet is definitely feeling it!

Spent: $85.62
Budget: $75 (with the goal of $50)

What We Ate:
-Thursday: I had lunch at work. For dinner I cooked the rest of the sausage (from the soup and stuffed peppers) and mac & cheese. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it was practical and tasty.
-Friday: I had lunch with friends at a great local place. For dinner, I ate Supremely Spicy Hummus and tortillas (I had a craving)
-Saturday: I had more hummus for lunch (its just sooo good!). For dinner my friend and I had Firehouse Subs.
-Sunday: I went wedding dress shopping and then we all went for a late lunch at Jason's Deli (my mom was kind enough to buy mine). For dinner we had leftover soup and some really ugly bread I made in the bread maker (more on that later).
-Monday: I bought lunch at work again. For dinner P and I had Chinese
-Tuesday: I bought lunch again. For dinner, I finished off the hummus and the leftover mac & cheese.
-Wednesday: I bought lunch (again). For dinner P and I went to Chik-Fil-A

Planned Food:
Everything I said I was going to cook last week and didn't. I've actually missed cooking this past week . . .

For more information about Project: Food Budget, please visit this post from The Reluctant Vegetarian.

Here's to hoping that Week 5 wil be our best one yet!

What's In My Purse?

2011-01-31T17:46:00.006-06:00

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, probably thought I was going to share my wedding dress since I found it yesterday (it was the fifth dress I tried on!). And while I would love to show it to you, I can't post it here because I don't want to risk P seeing it. So, if you want to see it drop me a message and I will email it to you!I've seen this What's in My Purse post on a few different posts and decided it looked like fun. So here's what's in my purse:

1. My spork. I brought my breakfast (yogurt) to work this morning and this was my utensil.

2. My "Etsy Idea Notebook." It never fails that once I sit down at my desk and pretend to do my day job, a million different ideas come to me. So I keep this handy little notebook near me to write them down and make To-Do lists for when I'm not at work.

3. Random Notebook. I list songs that I want to remember or books in this wee Moleskine. (If you haven't noticed, I really like keeping lists of things).

4. My Perfect Pouch. I don't just make them, I use them too! (and No, that's not a pink mini dildo zipper-pull, its a pink bullet which I got fromhere). I keep tons of crap in here - female personal hygiene products, a small mirror, my iPod, random earrings, and some lenses for my Blackberry's camera.
5. 2 Lighters that I just found.

6. My wallet that I purchased from this lovely Etsy shop.

7. My Target sunglasses. I've had them for 2yrs. now. Best $7.99 I ever spent.

8. "Pure Seduction" from Victoria's Secret. I got this as part of Christmas present one year and actually liked the scent. I typically keep a bottle of lotion in my purse because most soaps dry my skin out.

9. A random hoop earring. I think its mate is on the mantel at home.

10. My coupon organizer. I've learned that I have to keep it on me. I keep meaning to cover it with some pretty paper, I just haven't yet . . .

11. My Wonderful Wallet (yes, another shameless plug for my shop). This holds my business cards, movie ticket stubs, and my My Panera card.

12. A random postcard. I really have no idea why this is in my purse . . .

13. 2 coupons for Shutterfly that were given to my bridesmaids yesterday when they bought their dresses. Two of the girls didn't want theirs so they gave them to me.

14. My wee change purse. I've been experimenting with patterns for these. Eventually I will list them in my shop.

15. A collection of pens and sharpies and the ever important Tide To-Go pen. My mother (bless her) finally grew tired of me complaining about spilling coffee on myself and put one of these in my Christmas stocking.

The things that weren't shown were my cigarettes, phone, and my camera (obviously because I was using it). And, of course, I made my purse (which I will soon be making for my shop, so stay tuned).

Project: Food Budget - Week 3

2011-01-27T19:28:00.002-06:00

This week was good but not as good as last week. I did manage to stick to my plan of cooking more. I also only ate one meal for the cafeteria at work and didn't go out to eat for lunch anywhere else during the week, but P and I ate out during the weekend. We went to the grocery once!

We also didn't cook everything we planned. So, for this coming week, those items are on the menu again.

Spent: $70
Budget: $75 (with a goal of $50)

What We Ate:
- Thursday: I made the stuffed peppers and they were excellent!
- Friday - Lunch was a stuffed pepper. Dinner went out to meet the couple who's wedding I'm photographing - they were kind enough to pay for my dinner
- Saturday - I had another stuffed pepper and a salad with the lettuce leftover from last week
- Sunday - For lunch we had Hardee's (greasy food is great for hangovers) and we went to dinner with P's family
- Monday - I had the last pepper for lunch. For dinner we had Steak-Out (we both had had rough days and didn't feel like cooking).
- Tuesday - I bought lunch and for dinner the lovely Ms.Heather, Ms.Debra, and I went out for India food. I bought a gift certificate from restaurant .com so that helped minimize our bill!
- Wednesday - lunch was leftover India food and for dinner we ate 16 bean soup that I had cooking in the crock pot all day.

Planned Food:
- veggie stir-fry (this is always a handy back-up)
- Ginger-Lime Noodles from the Reluctant Veggie (we're going to add chicken)

- Grilled cheese with pepper jelly and tomato soup (a staple here)

- Leftover 16 bean soup (I have 3 servings in the freezer and another 2 in the fridge)

- Sausages with mac and cheese (I bought a lot of sausage last week, so this will use it all up)

For more information about Project: Food Budget check out the original post over at The Reluctant Vegetarian!

Project: Food Budget: Week 2

2011-01-20T10:24:00.003-06:00

This week was a much more typical week for us. I did manage to stick to my plan of cooking more. I also only ate one meal for the cafeteria at work - but I did buy lunch another day. We also reduced the number of trips to the grocery store - we only went twice (instead of the normal 4 times - I always forget something!) On of my trips I was able to save $10 using coupons!!

We also didn't cook everything we planned. So, for this coming week, those items are on the menu again.

Spent: $61
Budget: $75 (with a goal of $50)

What We Ate:
- Thursday: Grilled cheese with pepper jelly and tomato soup. If you haven't tried this, I highly suggest it. I've heard that you can pair any jelly and any cheese together and it will be good. I've only tried it with pepper and apricot jellies - and both were delicious.
- Friday - Black pepper turkey panini with pesto
- Saturday - Chicken chili (it needed more spice in my opinion, but it was still really tasty)
- Sunday - leftover chili
- Monday - Black pepper turkey panini with pesto and bacon
- Tuesday - Romaine salad with bacon (I forgot to buy tomatoes) - I also bought lunch with day
- Wednesday - I ate out for both meals. Lunch was at a local texmex restaurant - Bandito Burrito and dinner was Chik-Fil-A

Planned Food:
- veggie stir-fry
- stuffed peppers (I'm making them this time)
- pasta salad (mainly for me to bring for lunches)
- 16 bean soup (I have a ton of dry beans and need to use some to make space in the cabinets)
- broccoli cheese stuffed baked potato (I've been craving this for weeks now)

*I completely forgot to mention - Check out the original post over at The Reluctant Vegetarian!

Wedding Inspiration

2011-01-19T09:57:00.009-06:00

Yesterday, my lovely "hair guy" (you know, the guy who cuts my hair that I refuse to call my "stylist" or "beautician") reminded me that its 13 weeks till my wedding. The only thing I've done thus far is to pick out my invitations (shown above and available from here) and set a date for the bridesmaids, my mom, and I to go look at dresses. That's it. I have the whole thing planned out in my head - but that's not really gonna help anyone but me. So to make myself feel better and share my vision, I've decided to post some of my inspiration.

Colors:

Light blue, dark grey, and white (of course)

General Aesthetic:

(I really love the feel of this picture and I don't remember where I got it from)

Bridesmaids:

I love the idea of having different dresses - not everyone looks good in the same style dress.

I love the lights in this one - hopefully I'll be able to get something like this at the reception

I need those blue mason jars!

So there you go, a little peek into what I'm aiming for. My flowers are going to be Sweet Peas and White Daisies.

*I'm sorry, but I cannot remember where I found all of these pictures, so I cannot give credit. I've had them saved on my computer for months. I do apologize.

Project: Food Budget - Week 1

2011-01-13T18:27:00.006-06:00

Like everyone else, I've been trying to save money and cut costs where ever possible. One of the things I've recently gotten into is "couponing" - as my grandmother would say. I've become obsessive about it. I love clipping coupons and that rush that comes when I look at my receipt and see how much I've saved. Its addictive. Trust me.

And much like exercising or quitting smoking, its always helpful to have a buddy. I saw Reluctant Veggie's post last week about Project: Food Budget and decided to join.

But first, I think I need to give some background information. P works nights most of the time (he's a chef) and so 4 days of the week I'm on my own for dinner. And since I'm trying to branch out with my culinary skills, this is normally the time I experiment. Normally I do something easy like a bowl of soup or a grilled cheese, but I really want to expand my horizons (plus I'm getting really tired of eating soup all the time). When P is not working, he's not too keen on cooking (I don't blame him at all - if I spent 40+hrs. a week cooking I sure as hell wouldn't want to do it on my time off), so we eat out a lot. I want to change this - an easy way to save money and yet another reason for me to spread my culinary wings. I'm also terrible about not remembering to pack my lunch, so most days I eat from the work cafeteria (they finally have some decent and suedo-healthy choices), but that's also about $4.00 a day. So, my goals from participating in this project are to 1.Cook more 2.Eat out less.

With that being said, here's my summary of the past week. (I must say that this is a fairly untypical week for us - we were snowed in Monday-Wednesday)

Number of people to feed: 2 (me and P)
Budget: $75 (my goal is to get this down to $50)
Spent: $72.48

What We Ate:

- Thursday - I went to Panera with the lovely Ms.Heather, Ms.Annie, and Ms.Debra (I had a 1/2 turkey sandwich and a cup of broccoli cheese soup - Yum!)

- Friday - ordered Domino's when P got home from work (mine was Italian sausage and roasted red peppers)

- Saturday - I had leftover pizza

- Sunday - We had breakfast for dinner (biscuits, gravy, bacon, and sausage - oh, so healthy)
- Monday - Leftover biscuits for lunch; I cooked some country ham and mac & cheese for dinner

- Tuesday - (I forgot to eat lunch) Dinner was meatloaf made by P

- Wednesday - (again, I forgot to eat lunch) We had Chinese for dinner (I had Gen.Tsao's Chicken and Fried Rice)

Since today is pay day for me, I'm making my bi-weekly grocery shopping trip. This week (for probably the first time ever) I took some time to plan out my menu for the next week.

Planned Food:

- chicken chili (I'm making this tomorrow with some frozen chicken thighs we have)

- stuffed peppers (P's making these on Sunday)

- veggie stir fry

- grilled cheese with pepper jelly and tomato soup (one of my favorite meals)

- romaine salad with bacon and grape tomatoes

My goal next week is to only buy lunch once and to bring leftovers for the other 4 days.

What are you doing to cut costs? Any favorite coupon sites?

Part 2 in a Frozen Hell

2011-01-05T14:27:00.003-06:00

So, if you follow me on Twitter then you already know that pork was a success - P's only complaint was that it wasn't spicy enough for him. I managed to successfully cook some white rice (yay!) and I have enough leftover for dinner tonight! (The above picture is of the leftovers I brought for lunch today)

So now that I have that under my belt, I'm now contemplating my next culinary adventure. I'm thinking about this lovely Squash, Chickpea, & Red Lentil Stew, but I'm still not completely sold on it. Any suggestions?

Also, from now until January 15th, use the coupon code "FRIENDS" at my etsy shop and receive 10% off (and everything has free shipping too!)

Hell Hath Froze Over

2011-01-04T09:56:00.004-06:00

Why? Because I'm cooking dinner. And not just any dinner, but a dinner that has pork. In case you're new to my blog (hello, by the way! glad to have ya!), I'm not a vegetarian - I'm just terrified of cooking meat. I'm convinced that I'll poison myself or P.

I am also a terrible cook. Rice is too complicated for me. But as I was sitting at work contemplating my attack plan for this "diet" thing I'm trying, the urge to cook came over me like a demon possession. Normally when I have this desire, I make something easy like a pasta salad. But since it's winter, I wanted to make something warm and filling, so I started researching crockpot recipes (its like an Easy-Bake for adults, right?!) and I came across this recipe for Braised Pork with Salsa. It looked easy enough, so after work I enthusiastically ran to store to buy the necessary ingredients.

I decided to do all of the "prep" work like chopping done last night so that this morning all I would have to do is throw it all in the crockpot and leave. I wish I had thought to have someone take pictures of me butchering (and not in a good way) the meat. I've handled raw meat before so the texture of it wasn't the problem; it was the instructions. The recipe stately oh-so-nonchalantly to "Trim and discard pork surface fat. Cut meat apart following layers of fat around muscles; trim and discard fat." So, as I stood there staring at this hunk of cold meat I start trying to pump myself up "Ariana, you got this! You watch Food Network. You so got this! YEAH!!" So, with the enthusiasm of a high school football player during play-offs, I slice into the meat. And then it hits me, I have no clue in hell what I'm doing. I so don't got this. But since I was trying to appear like a bad-ass Martha Stewart in front of my friends (oh yeah, did I mention, we had company over too), I refused to ask for help from P (who's a chef) and continued to poorly butcher this meat into the recipe required "2 inch chunks." And they are just that, chunks.

This morning, I boiled the ingredients I needed to boil, threw it all together in the crockpot, set it for 8hrs., said a short prayer, and left the house. Tonight, I'll cook some rice (my arch nemesis) and have everything ready for when P gets home from work for us to eat (I'm so Susie Homemaker, its sickening).

Keep your fingers crossed that this turns out well and I don't kill him.

Epilogue and Prologue

2011-01-03T10:58:00.003-06:00

I meant to write this post days ago and ~~was too hung over~~ forgot to do it, so here it goes.

Disclaimer - I don't really like the idea of resolutions. I prefer to set goals for myself. I'm more apt to achieve them.

2010 was not the best year I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst either. To me, 2010 was my "breather" year. There were no huge important events (except for becoming "officially" engaged). 2010 was just there. And I really needed a calm year after 2009. A year to pause and re-group and get my game plan together; to re-evaluate what I want out of life.

So, that being said, we are now in 2011 and I have to get going on my goals. This year already has a lot in store for me with the wedding (4 months away!!!) and all. But I've also set fairly aggressive goals for myself - I want to push my Etsy sales so that I'm making half of my yearly income from Etsy/art stroll sales (so that I'm one step closer to achieving my goal of being self-employed) and I want to apply to grad school for photography. There's also things like wanting/trying to lose 20lbs before the wedding and finding a physical place to "show" my photos and finally getting my craft room clean and organized.

Please take a gander by my shop and let me know what you think - both negative and positive is welcomed and encouraged. Also, what would you think if I moved my photos (and some soon to be posted illustrations) to another shop?

What are you're goals for 2011?

Mantras

2010-12-08T09:54:00.003-06:00

According to Urban Dictionary, a mantra is "a point emphasized to be the essential point, or phrase of something." And as part of our Siamese-twin-syndrome, the lovely Ms.Heather and I have created our own mantras for this holiday season - "We Got This!" and "After Christmas".

The first one is easy to explain - we are over-stressed, under-funded, and overly-ambitious with our Christmas gifts. In addition to attempting to "make Christmas," we both have a myriad of other projects that need attention (like the Sketchbook Project that's due January 15th). So, in an attempt to keep us sane, we keep repeating "We Got This!" until we've convinced ourselves that everything is going to be ok and we can get everything done.

"After Christmas" is less of a mantra and more of a fictional place in time, where I have nothing better to do than to conquer all of the random things that I've been wanting to try and play with unicorns. For instance "After Christmas, I will organize all of my patterns into binders instead of having 42 thousand loose pieces of paper." or "After Christmas, We will learn to crochet and make cute amigurumi creations." The list of things that I'm doing has reached ridiculous proportions and lucky for me, I can only remember a handful of the items on the list. But if you got a nickel for every time I said "After Christmas" this holiday season, you'd be rich. I probably ought to start writing all of these things down, but I'm terrified I have to start mediating while chanting "I Got This!" in order to keep my sanity, so for now, or at least until the wedding is planned, I won't look at the list.

So for now, I Got This making Christmas thing on lock, and everything else I'll get to After Christmas.

What do you do to keep your sanity during the holidays? What do you plan to do "After Christmas"?

Photos!

2010-12-07T11:40:00.007-06:00

Look at this man! How could I not love him?!

A few weeks ago I finally got around to finishing a roll of black and white film that I had had in my camera since June. And of course, I developed them using the Caffenol method. Here are some of my favorites:

P and his baby, Chaka

Washing Machines!

My favorite one!

I'm in love with the laundry mat shots - I'm going to have to go back there!

There are more photos from this shoot on at my Flickr page - go check them out!

A Challenge

2010-12-03T09:44:00.003-06:00

Hello again!

This year, my overly ambitious broke self has decided to attempt to do an entirely handmade Christmas, with 2 exceptions - my Grandpa and P.

As some of you saw yesterday on Twitter and Facebook, I was asking for suggestions for my Grandpa and my Dad. Well, I've figured out my Grandpa. I'm already giving him and Gumbo a basket of random baked goods, a calendar, and a quilt. So, I'm adding some of Popeye's favorite peppermint sticks (the soft kind) and calling it done. I still haven't figured out Dad . . . so if you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

P's present is exempt because we're going in together and buying ourselves a record player and a piece of furniture to put it on and that's just a bit too difficult to make.

My reasons for attempting this handmade adventure are twofold. 1. I have always been told that the best gifts are ones from the heart and what better way to express the sentiment of "I picked this out specifically for you" than to make it. 2. In the past I have spent months trying to come up with the perfect gift for people that's either meaningful or useful, and this year I didn't want to spend money on things that are going to be forgotten or stored away. Yeah, sure, that electronics docking station is incredibly handy, but by March its already been forgotten about. So, I'm trying to remedy that this year.

Since I'm fairly confident that no one in my family reads my blog, I'll share what all I'm making. And if you do happen to be from my family, please, stop reading. Go read celebrity gossip or something. Thanks.

1. An illustrated calendar. I drew the "birth flowers" for every month (above is October's Cosmos) and made a calendar for 2011. My mom and I always exchange calendars at Christmas - its our thing. Last year, I decided to make her one with photos and it was a huge success, that I ended up having to print a few more for other family members. So this year, I'm giving them to most of the family. I just need to find the right paper and I'll be good to go. I'm contemplating listing these in my Etsy shop, but I'm not sure if they'll sell . . .

2. Baked goods baskets. Every year I make these delicious Hazelnut Chocolate Chip cookies that everyone loves (especially my brothers). So this year, I decided to make these cookies, some regular sugar cookies (with Christmas sprinkles), cranberry-orange biscotti and hot chocolate mix in a basket for a gift. I'm sure I will be cussing the entire week before Christmas as I attempt to get all the cookies baked (they don't keep long or freeze well).

3. Fingerless gloves - like these in my shop. For the girls in the family, like my brother's girlfriend. I'm also taking "custom orders" and making some for friends to give their friends. A pair takes me roughly 12hrs. to make, so its not too bad when its coupled with a pot of coffee and some NetFlix movies. (I'm taking orders until the 18th, if you're interested)

4. Photos. For some of the men in my family, like my step dad.

In addition to making all of my own presents, I ~~was on drugs and~~ offered to make gifts for my friends (like the lovely Ms.Heather and Ms.Katie) to give.

Oddly enough, I'm not stressed about this. I've made an extensive "battle plan" on how to best manage my time and am slowly but surely completing tasks.

What are you doing special this holiday season?

Under the Influence

2010-10-29T09:49:00.003-05:00

The effect of the media on females' body image has been in the news a lot lately. I've always thought that things like skinny models and Barbie's body never had an effect on me, but I was wrong. They really do effect the way I see myself, especially recently.

Up until I was 23, I never really cared about what others thought of my appearance. I was happy; I felt good about how I looked; and I was confident. I weighed more than I do now and it never bothered me. Now, I obsess about my weight and my body. My stomach isn't flat enough; my love handles are too big; my ankles are too fat; I weigh too much; etc.

I figured that the new found interest in looking "perfect" came from my divorce, but last night when I was flipping through the new Victoria's Secret catalog, I realized that I was wrong. Instead of gazing at the lovely bras and panties, I was looking at the models stomachs and love handles, trying to figure out what I could do to achieve a body like theirs. And then as I was desperately Googling celebrity work out plans, it struck me. Those girls are airbrushed. Even they don't have bodies like the girls in the catalog!

Then I landed on the before and after photos of various celebrities - like these of Brittany Spears. And I immediately felt better about my imperfect body. Sure, I still want to improve my appearance, but I also know that I'm almost 30 and will never look like those models.

So if I, a relatively well educated non-mainstream woman, can be so influenced by pictures in a periodical, then just imagine what younger girls feel like. I have a younger step-sister who's 14 and a little chunky and I wonder how she feels (she lives in VA and I only get to see her twice a year). I hope that her mom tells her she's beautiful and perfect. I hope she's doing better than I am and is above the influence of the media.

*Sidenote: I've talked to P about all of this - and he says I'm crazy because he doesn't see any of the "flaws" I do. Could I ask for a better man?!

Learning to be a Partner

2010-10-27T09:43:00.003-05:00

Things have been busy at the Happy Cactus abode. There are Halloween costumes to make, Christmas presents to start on, and a wedding to plan. Things are progressing nicely - the wedding planning is almost done - I just need to find my dress, the bridesmaids' dresses and the flowers - and then I can start printing out invitations and getting them in the mail (after Christmas).

P and I have also been talking about the future. Grown-up things like home-ownership and procreation. This is where things get frustrating. We make enough that we could afford the monthly mortgage payments on a home, but we don't make enough to be able to save for a down payment on a home. Frustrating.

As it is now, we get by. I pay the bills and P covers everything else - food, entertainment, cigarettes, gas, etc. The problem is me. I'm so used to keeping my income separate from my partner's that I feel like a mooch asking him for help. So instead, I go without and get angry about my lack of funds. Its unnecessary and ridiculous.

I need realize that I'm in a partnership and to quit trying to be Super Woman. Its an odd concept to me, but I'm learning.

And Swallow . . .

2010-10-12T11:10:00.002-05:00

So, last night, P, Badger (P's best friend who I think looks like Friar Tuck from Disney's Robin Hood), and I went and played Drag Queen Bingo. It was a blast. Randomly Ms. Barbara Jean, the hostess, would call out "And Swallow . . ." and everyone would have to take a drink. Bingo, beer, and overt sexual innuendos - who wouldn't have a good time.

But what bothered me is my Grandmother's reaction when I told her what my plans were that evening.

First, I probably need to explain that I call my Grandparents (and mom) every week, normally on Mondays, just to catch up and say hey and all - 'cause one day they won't be here for me to call. Also, I'm really open with my family. I don't think I should hide things from them - be it my plans or my political/religious views. My Grandmother is the matriarch of my family. I joke that she attempts to rule us like a Mafia boss, but its true. She expects her word to be the final word on the subject, and that just doesn't sit well with me.

Recently, my Grandmother's opinion of "the gays" has changed as she has gotten to know the couple that live down the street from her. Also, one of my good friends is gay and came out 12yrs. ago. Slowly from knowing these 3, she has decided that gay marriage "may not be such a bad thing" and that "they're normal people too." And then I told her where I was going last night and her response: "You better watch who you're hanging out with! You never know what they might do to you!!"

I asked her what exactly she thought they might do to me - and she had no response. But it bothered me. Partly because I thought her attitude had changed and she had overcome her prejudice against a group of people and partly because the how strong and horrible her prejudice was. I don't understand it. And this isn't the first time I've gotten the "beware of gay people" lecture from her. A few years ago, a scenic overlook near where I lived was busted for being a random gay man hook up spot (like a rest stop), and she warned me to stay away from there. I'm sorry, but I think she has a fundamental misunderstanding about what gay men do. I don't think I'm their type.

So, a day late, I'm saying that I'm a straight person and a supportive friend and yesterday was National Coming Out Day. I'm coming out for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality because its 2010 and only five states plus DC recognize that love, not gender, is what matters in a marriage.

Just wait til my Grandma hears that my bachelorette is going to be at the gay club . . .

M.I.A. No More

2010-10-11T14:44:00.003-05:00

Hi.

I'm still here.

Unfortunately, not much as has changed, so that's why I haven't posted. I'm still stressed and over-whelmed feeling but at the same time delightfully happy. And interesting things have happened in the past 2 weeks. Here's a brief synopsis:

- Participated in my first real fight. And by participate, I mean I yelled mean things while piling my friends possessions in P's car. Long story short, P's best friend broke up with his boyfriend and things got nasty. We've nicknamed it "The Night of Brokeback Boxing" and looking back it was quite funny. P was wearing a lacy tank top of mine (don't ask why - Hump Day Drunk Day gets crazy some weeks) when the brawling began . . .

- I also participated in another street festival type thing this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't make as much money as I did when the lovely Heather and I had a both together. And somehow I managed to get one of the two booths that were in full sun all day, so I have a bitchin' farmer's tan!

- Figure drawing class went great last time! It really felt good to sit down and draw again. And get covered with charcoal dust. I can't wait for the next one!

- My ex has finally started to leave me alone again. We were trying to be friends but he pitched a bit of a fit when I told him that P and I had set a date. Its near his birthday, so he decided that I had "maliciously" chosen the date to "punish" him. So I decided that it was probably in the best interest of everyone involved if we quite forcing a friendship. It took him 30 days (yes, I counted) of randomly contacting me for no reason to finally understand, but I think he has (knock on wood).

- I've continued to fall deeper in love with P everyday. Its ridiculous how awesome this guy is . . .

- I've been contemplating my next tattoo and I think its going to be a pepper shaker (because my last name is going to be Pepper). I just can't decide where I want to put it. Any suggestions?

And now, I've got to start working on my Halloween costume. I'm planning on dressing as a hummingbird. And I need to start working on Christmas presents . . .

How's your life been the past 2 weeks?

Stress

2010-09-21T09:19:00.002-05:00

I've talked before about needing a certain amount of stress in my life in order to feel normal and motivated. Well, now I have too much. Kinda. Let me explain.

For some reason, I've started stressing about the most insignificant things. This new stress has started a chain reaction of other feelings including slight depression which has led to me being completely unmotivated and thus spending my evenings laying on the couch watching episodes of Nip/Tuck on Netflix Instant. My couch-potato-ness has caused me to stress about the things I'm not doing, thus perpetuating the cycle.

I know that all I have to do is to start doing something and everything will fall into place. Its just getting off my ass to do it. The things I'm stressing about are really small - like a confusing glove pattern, finishing 2 rolls of film, and taking my dogs for walks. Its really quite ridiculous, but I'm stressing nonetheless.

I talked a while ago about the need I feel to do everything perfectly. Its an odd and unfounded feeling, but, for me, it stems from the feeling that as an adult, I must be perfect at everything otherwise I'm a failure at life. It comes from negative influences I had in my life for so long and since they're no longer in my life, I feel the need to do it to myself - to fill the void. P and I have been working on getting rid of these feelings. He's incredibly supportive and understanding about it. And slowly but surely these feelings are occurring less frequently and hopefully eventually they'll disappear.

In slightly related news, the fabulous Ms.Heather and I are going to a figure drawing class/session tonight. I can't even begin to describe the level of anxiety I have over this - I haven't drawn from a model in 7yrs. I really hope this is one of things that's like riding a bike - that those skills just come back to me when I sit down with my charcoal in hand. Wish us luck!

Some Wins and A Fail

2010-09-13T10:44:00.004-05:00

I have completely failed at the whole NaBloPoMo thing . . . again. But, I have been keeping busy and getting lots accomplished. I've been listing new things to my etsy, making sales, taking pictures, knitting new gloves, and planning a wedding.

Yep! I said it - planning a wedding!!

The adorable and ever-so-wonderful P and I officially set a date. April 23, 2011.

And now I have a little over 8 months to plan the wedding I want. The only problem is is that I've never done this before and have no idea where to start. I've been looking for one of those wedding-planning-fill-in-the-blanks-books but so far they're all so . . . froofy and not me. So the quest continues . . . I've even thought about making my own, but then again, I have no idea what to put in it . . .

I do know one thing - I'm going to attempt to make my wedding dress. Brave, I know, but I think I can do it (and if I get stuck, I think I can talk my soon-to-be-mother-in-law into helping me).

I way past excited about this new chapter in my life. I truly believe that there is the perfect partner for everyone out there - their other half, soul mate, or whatever you want to call it - and P's mine. We "fit" together just right and I'm so excited to be spending the rest of my life with him.

So . . . what's new with you?

Versatile Blogger - the Art Edition

2010-09-03T13:25:00.004-05:00

The ever so lovely Heather nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award . . . and for that I thank her. Since I've done this one once before, I'll make this one the Art Edition . . .

The Rules:

- Be polite, and thank/link to the blogger that nominated you.

- List 7 facts about yourself

- Pass it on to some other wonderfully versatile bloggers.

7 Facts About Me and Art:

1. At one time, I wanted to be a Medical Illustrator

2. Van Gogh is one of my favorite painters.

3. I can draw, but not paint (at least not well).

4. My painting professor in college tied my brush to a large stick in order to get me to "loosen up"

5. At one point in time, I worked as an art model.

6. I prefer my macro lens over all others.

7. Dorthea Lange is one of my favorite photographers.

Now . . . versatile bloggers . . .

- Amy at My Little Life

- Kim at Perfectly Cursed Life

- Courtney at Seriously. . .

- Katie at The Mustachioed Penguin

And as a shameless self-plug . . . check out my new bag on etsy.

What is Art?

2010-09-02T09:42:00.004-05:00

Maybe I'm a gluten for punishment and self-guilting, but I've decided to participate in this month's NaBloPoMo. Why you ask . . . because this month's theme is ART. And how could I be expected to skip a topic like that?

Naturally I believe this month long discussion should begin with defining what art is - which is almost impossible to answer. Personally, I believe that anything can be considered art (paintings, photos, food, dance, music, written words, etc.) but that there is a distinction between "fine art" and just plain "art." But even that distinction is hard to define. I think of it as the difference between a Picasso and a drawing done by a 5 yrs. old. Both are "art" but only one of them

"Fine art," to me, is something that denotes a high level of skill and craft and thought behind the work. Fame also does not denote the label of "fine art." Some of the artists I most respect and admire have never been in a famous gallery or had their work discussed in an art history class (have you seen Heather's portraits?! Perfect example). Personally, I don't view artists like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst as producing "fine art." I think that they're hacks who learned how to work the system. . . but that's just my opinion.

What about you? What do you consider to be art?

Manic Mondays

2010-08-30T11:10:00.002-05:00

After the last post, I got busy creating things. Above is the first of the new line of wallets that I've created for my etsy shop - the Little Birds Wonderful Wallet (you can find it here). I have two more cut and ready to sew and post this week. I also re-evaluated the direction of my etsy shop and decided to move the photos to another shop. I want to be able to highlight my photos and give them the attention they deserve, and I don't think I'm able to do that and have all of the other stuff I have . . . what do you think?

Among my other accomplishments this past week was finishing P's scarf (pictures later) and making hummus and pita bread (both recipes from this issue of Vegetarian Times). While the bread took the better part of the day, the result was well worth it. This week's culinary adventure: Cranberry Orange Biscotti. I plan on modifying this recipe.

So, to stay on the wave of productive-ness, I've come up with this week's To-Do list:

-walk Matthias 3 days - now that it doesn't feel like the 7th layer of hell outside, Matthias and I can start bringing sexy back again.

- finish the knit washcloth I started last night - I love using knit dishcloths more than anything else and I have a lace pattern that makes the perfect dishcloth (in my opinion).
- make another of my zipper bag ideas - stay tuned for pictures
- post new things to etsy - I have another pair of gloves and some bags made that I need to get online
- read 2 books

What do you want to accomplish this week?

W.I.P.s

2010-08-25T12:48:00.006-05:00

I have a natural tendency to take on a lot of projects. I used to think it was because I expected too much out of myself, but now I'm starting to understand that I need a certain amount of stress in my life to function. I need the deadlines and the pressure of meeting them in order to be productive. Because of this crazy need, I have a lot of half-finished projects lying around my house and I've finally decided that enough is enough and that I'm going to finish said projects before taking on another.

Here are a few of the ones I'm working on:

- a sampler scarf for P (pattern). Well, it wasn't originally for him but in order to motivate myself to finish it, I declared it to be for him. I'm knitting in a lovely charcoal gray and will, of course, post pictures when its finished.

- a new zipper bag pattern for my Etsy shop. I made a wallet similar to this for a friend's birthday present, but I can't use this pattern for my items that I sell (copyrighted), so I've decided to come up with my own pattern that is loosely inspired by her bag. Side note - If you don't already read this blog, then you should. She has some wonderful patterns!

-this mug:

I found a tutorial somewhere for painting mugs and other ceramics and wanted to try my hand at it (maybe on it was on Martha Stewart's site . . . please don't hate me for going there - I think she's Satan, but she has some really good ideas and really good graphic design). So, I started this mug with the intention of selling at the Art Stroll, but I never got around to finishing it . . . if it turns out well, then I maybe giving them out for Christmas presents (yes, I really am already thinking about Christmas presents).

- a new "almost fingerless" glove pattern. One of the lovely ladies who spent money at our table at the Art Stroll expressed interest in having a pair of almost fingerless gloves (kinda like these). I'd like to have them done before it gets cold here (which is in October).

I have a good chunk of stuff on my plate, but I don't think it'll take that long. I just need to stop twiddling my thumbs and do it.

What do you have on your plate?

*About the picture at the top of the page - I found on a blog this morning, but I completely forgot to write down where I found it. So I, regretfully, cannot give its creator credit. Please let me know who it is, if you know, so I can give them credit and try to buy it in poster form.

Busy Bee

2010-08-23T13:12:00.002-05:00

For the past week, Heather and I have been frantically preparing for the Downtown Art Stroll that happened last Thursday. All of stress and preparation paid off - we were a huge success and had tons of fun. So much so that we're planning on doing all of them next summer.

Above is a shot of us after we finally got set-up and somewhat arranged (though Heather continued to rearrange until we got our first customers). We both brought a lot of stuff from our Etsy shops. I had multiple zipper bags, wallets, fingerless gloves, and photos; Heather had her lovely stuffed owlies, original watercolors, and prints of said watercolors. And to add that extra little bit, I also folded tons of newspaper gift bags for the purchased goods to go in (I'll post a picture of them later, but I found the tutorial here at How About Orange, which I adore and you should definitely check out if you haven't already). If I ever see a glue stick again, it'll be too soon.

The success of the Art Stroll and the number of business cards (all of them! I need to order more) I handed out has renewed my desire to have a thriving Etsy shop. The only problem is is that I have no idea how to promote my shop to you lovely internet-peoples. So, I'm asking, those of you with successful shops, what suggestions do you have? Those of you without shops, what makes you want to buy from an online retailer? What attracts you to a shop?

Any and all tips, tricks, and critiques are welcomed!

Here are links to my shop and Heather's.

What's in a name?

2010-08-10T10:01:00.005-05:00

Today's the day when all 8lbs of me came busting into the world sometime around lunch in a pink hospital at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. My dad was convinced I was gonna be a boy (they were going to name me Gant!), and so they didn't have a girl's name picked out. My ever resourceful father ran to the waiting room and grabbed a copy of Time magazine to look for a good name. The cover story was about the Ariane rocket that the French had launched a few years before, and he decided that Ariana would be a great name. My mom like Jessica and my god-parents (aka my dad's boss) thought I needed a Hawaiian name, so they gave me Leilani. And that's how I ended up with the longest name in history (ok. not really, but when I was little it sure felt like that).

When I got older, I started researching my name and I learned that Ariana is the westernized name for a Greek goddess (Ariadne) and Ariane is a French word for some types of hummingbirds. Ariadne was the daughter of the Crete King Minos who helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur and became the bride of Dionysus (my favorite Greek god). So, while my dad choose my name completely randomly, I think he did a good job.

Some people and cultures think that a child's name is an important factor in what type of person the child will become, and I agree. Choosing a name for a child is something that should be taken seriously. Certain names have certain personalities attached to them. In my experience, Elizabeths are kinda prissy (my best friend is an Elizabeth and she's very prissy); Nicks are goofy; Lisas are empathetic; Brians are dependable. . . but Arianas . . . they're just weird. I think if I had been a "Mary" or an "Anne" or a "Jessica" I would have a completely different personality. Growing up with a weird name that's hard to pronounce, you learn to not take yourself too seriously. You do things like wear multiple pairs of mismatched socks and put on plays with your erasers. You embrace the weirdness.

Even though I've finally started wearing matching socks and my dogs have replaced my imaginary friends, I'm still the same weird kid I always was. And for that, I must thank my parents for not planning ahead and having a girl name just in case.

Me (age 7) in all my glory. And no, it wasn't Halloween.

How Much Is Too Much?

2010-07-28T14:12:00.003-05:00

Its seems as though lately there has been a lot of talk about how the internet, social networking sites, and blogs are enabling people too share too much about their lives and thus raising the question "how much is too much?"

My grandmother regularly fusses at me for what I share on Facebook. She doesn't have a Facebook page (thank Zeus!) but her sister does, and I made the regrettable decision to accept her friend request, naively thinking that she wouldn't be online that often. I under-estimated my Great Aunt, who apparently has nothing better to do in her retirement than play golf and Facebook stalk her family members and report all of the goings-ons to my grandmother. Because of this wonderful Golden Girl spy network, I've learned to really watch what I post online.

When I began my blog, I knew I didn't want to share too much about myself or my personal life. But I quickly learned that it was the perfect outlet to talk about some of my inner most thoughts and feelings. I've never revealed where I work, my last name, or P's real name. I also don't share a lot of the crazy antics that happen here on my blog, that's reserved for Twitter (which I have deemed my "safest internet outlet" because my family has no idea what Twitter is). Neither my blog nor my twitter account are linked to my Facebook account; a lot of my "in real life" friends don't even know I blog. And I want to keep it that way. Its safe.

So, while I tell my grandmother (who is immensely concerned for my reputation with future employers) that I "don't post anything on-line that I wouldn't openly say in public," it is partially a lie. I post things on my blog that hard for me to say in person because I don't openly talk about my deep dark thoughts, feeling, and demons. I believe its because my blog gives me a vague sense of anonymity - I'm just one small voice in a sea of many - that I'm able to open up and talk about things. And this has helped me more than my wonderful (but pricey) therapist ever could.

Am I sharing too much through my blog, twitter, and Facebook? Maybe. Is it going to come back to haunt me in the future? Probably not. Is it worth it? Definitely.

La Vie Boheme

2010-07-27T13:32:00.003-05:00

Recently I've been finding my way back to being passionate about art. One of the ways I've been doing this is by reading books (Strapless - Sargent and Madame X) and watching movies about artists and their associates (Factory Girl - Edie Sedgewick and Andy Warhol).

And while both the movies and books have begun to stir up that familiar twitch that makes me want to draw, they have also rekindled my desire to live La Vie Boheme. Oh, how I long to cast off the shackles of corporate America and live the life of the starving artist! To make just enough money to feed me (and the dogs), shelter us, and buy art supplies and to be able create art all day every day! That would be heaven.

But the more I think about, the more I realize that I almost have that life. Almost. I have everything except for the ability to create art all day, every day. And that's what I long for the most. As it stands now, I feel like I work 2 jobs - the one that pays the bills, isn't creative, and dominates 40hrs. of my life every week; and the one that I do at night and on weekends, that's creative, fulfilling, and that occupies my thoughts as I go through the motions of the other job. The one that I want to do full time, but haven't found a way to make it profitable . . . yet.

But I will.

One Big Leap into the Future

2010-07-23T10:33:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week the ever so charming Barry gave me the "You're Going Places Baby" award. I find this award to be appropriate considering the nature of this month's posts.

So, the requirements are pretty simple - describe where you'll be in 10 yrs. and pass it along to 10 bloggers. We all know how terrible I am at passing these things along, so, we'll do it like last time - You comment - You consider yourself tagged for the award.

Now, where I'll be in 10 yrs. I've been thinking about this a lot and I think I've finally figured out where I want to be. The glorious Ms. Heather Rose and I went to the local gallery stroll last night and wandered around a warehouse-turned-art-community and day dreamed. So, in 10yrs. I will be working in art and supporting myself with it. Be it as a photographer or whatever. I don't want to be rich, I just want to be happy and comfortable.

And I will have a kick-ass studio space.

Where will you be?

One Small Step . . .

2010-07-20T10:46:00.003-05:00

As part of my attempt to be proactive with life, I'm trying not to be so self-conscious with my art. Maybe its from being married to such a ~~militant~~ passionate artist for so long; maybe its because of underlying self-esteem issues I'm trying to shake. But either way, I'm shy about showing it to other people and I want to fix that. As Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) so eloquently put it "Confidence is key."

I'm a natural procrastinator (my first "big word" as a child was "procrastinating." Shit. You. Not.), especially when the thing I'm avoiding is something that makes me uncomfortable, like showing my photos to people or even worse, asking them to buy them. I've had "plans" for months now to go to my friendly neighborhood Starbucks and ask if they would hang my photos, and still am yet to ask them (mind you, I've been there numerous times in the past month to feed my addiction to their Iced Chai Tea Latte. A girl has got to have priorities, right?!).

So, following my new mantra, I've decided to jump headlong into a commitment to set up a booth and attempt to sell my wares. And, since I'm too chicken to do it alone, I've ~~conned~~ asked the lovely Ms. Heather Rose to join me. And she, being the wonderful friend that she is, has agreed to brave the local Sidewalk Arts Stroll with me in August.

And now the panic sets in. I have roughly 4 weeks to get together enough photos and other random things from my etsy shop to sell and to obtain a new battery for my laptop which died last week so that I can edit and print said photos. I'm hoping that this will be enough to keep me busy so that I don't have time to second guess myself.

And who knows, maybe after this I'll have enough courage to actually talk to the manager at Starbucks.

A Year Ago

2010-07-14T09:38:00.002-05:00

I'm apparently on a nostalgic kick with my posts. Who knew that July 2010 would be the month of memories.

This time last year I learned that my divorce was final. My divorce decree was actually signed on July 8th (which was our wedding anniversary), but I didn't receive my papers until the following Monday. A lot has changed in the past year. Mark and I are no longer trying to kill each other - we're actually better friends than we were when we were married. I'm in a good and healthy relationship with the most wonderful man.

And most importantly, I'm no longer angry, depressed, and wallowing in self loathing. I've grown a lot. I feel more like myself now than I have in the past 10yrs., which is a great feeling. I missed me.

On of the things I had to learn is to adopt a new attitude towards life. Before I would aim for the moon, miss, and then spend a month (or more) beating myself up about how incompetent I was. But I've learned (mainly by watching P) that I should let things go. Yes, its ok to criticize myself (constructively) and realize my mistakes, learn from them, and move on. That's healthy. What I was doing to myself was not. In short, I was in an abusive relationship with myself.

Another part of the new attitude is that its ok to daydream and what-if about things, but that I need to be pro-active in achieving those goals. I can daydream all day long about my perfect house or my dream job, but I also need to take steps to make those things achievable. Things don't just fall in your lap. Daydreaming without action is doing nothing more than making me more unhappy with the life I have now.

I've been desperately trying to come up with a nice neat little phrase to sum this up, but all I can come up with is "Change what you can; forget what you can't." Any suggestions?

What have you changed in the past year?

On Me 10 Years Ago

2010-07-05T19:38:00.004-05:00

There was one part of the reunion that really impacted me - when we entered the door we received commemorative cups full of candy, a button with our senior pictures (for identification), and a letter that we wrote ourselves sometime before graduation. Well, most of us did. Liz apparently opted out of the whole letter writing thing. I, however, did not.

In the letter, I told myself that I hoped that I was doing something with art and that if I wasn't then maybe this letter would inspire me to start drawing again. I also told myself not worry if I wasn't married that I would "find someone patient enough sooner or later." And I talked about keeping in touch with some friends, most of whom I have not kept up with. Interestingly enough, Liz was not one of the friends I mentioned; she and I have been friends since we were 10, so either I just knew that we would stay in contact or I was mad at her for some petty thing. I like to think its because I knew we would stay friends . . . but who knows.

I've had some time to let this letter to myself sink in (and to get over the atrociousness of my 17 yrs. old handwriting - dear god it was horrible!) and I keep asking myself if I'm truly happy with where I am in my life. Am I where I thought I'd be? I've been feeling restless for months now and maybe the solution is in this letter from 10 yrs. ago. Did the 17yrs. old me know more about myself than I do now? Should I pursue something more artistic?

I think that maybe this letter is just the kick in the ass I needed. I've confident that I've found the "patient" person I was supposed to and my handwriting has definitely improved, so now I just need the art job right?

Right.

What do you think your past-self would tell your present-self?

I Survived!

2010-07-05T10:35:00.004-05:00

As you know, my class reunion was this past Saturday. I spent the majority of Friday running around town trying to find a dress to wear. Lets just say that "Juniors" dress are not made to fit people with figures . . . or boobs. And that the sizing system of said dresses is completely stupid. But that's neither here nor there . . .

Liz and I arrived at the venue, talked for a few minutes to an old classmate, and then wandered off to find the alcohol table. After getting our beverages, we headed outside to smoke. . . nothing makes you feel more like you're in high school again than sitting behind a building smoking. Ah . . . just like the "good 'ol times."

I imagine most high school reunions are like ours - the uncomfortableness, the cliques, and the mass consumption of alcohol. As the evening progressed and people got more comfortable (and drunk) more conversations happened. We talked to a few people - some we knew in high school and some we had never spoken a word too - and everyone was incredibly friendly. Maybe its because we all realized that high school (and cliques) was stupid; or maybe it was one of those bonds that happens when you share an uncomfortable experience with others. Who knows, but by the end of the evening we realized that we were glad we came.

Award Time!

2010-06-30T13:52:00.004-05:00

The first of my 2 awards comes from the charming Barry at Life in Quotations. To fulfill my obligations, I must list 7 random facts about myself. I'll try and list different ones than I have in the past, but please forgive me if there are any repeats.

1. I have never dyed my hair, but I did have a perm once and it was terrible. Tight poodle like curls . . . shiver

2. I was the "captain" of the cheerleading squad in middle school.

3. I talked my way out of a DUI once . . .

4. I wanted to be a microbiologist when I was little . . .

5. "The Sprinkler" is my favorite dance move. "The Shopping Cart" and "The Lawnmower" are tied for second.

6. I memorized Lewis Carrol's poem "The Jabberwocky" when I was 7 and still know all the words.

7. I secretly love Reese Witherspoon movies. Especially "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Legally Blonde."

The second award is from the fabulous Heather Rose and I have to name 10 things that make me happy . . . so here we go . . .

- excited puppies that can't control their lickers

- tomato sandwiches

- swimming pools

- cold beers and weird conversations

- chewy sprees

- Monday Night Mayhem with Miss Heather

- good books

- lightening bugs (I heart bioluminescence too)

- a fresh roll of black and white film

- Chik-Fil-A chicken sandwiches

Now, I'm supposed to pass this on to people, but I'm lazy. So, if you comment, then you automatically accept one of the awards. Think of it like a free gift with comment!

T-Minus 6 Days

2010-06-28T09:52:00.002-05:00

So. Its almost here. The event that I've been dreading/looking forward to for months. My 10 yrs. high school class reunion, where I get to dress up and attempt to impress people I haven't seen in 10yrs. and that I didn't care about when we went to school together.

I know from the email chain that out of my graduating class of close to 300, there's less than 100 of us showing up. At least there's an open bar. Thank Zeus for that.

I was not a very memorable person in high school. My wardrobe consisted of a lot of wide leg pants, Birkenstock, t-shirts, and no make-up. Hell, I barely had time in the mornings to blow-dry my hair, much less put on make-up. I was not there to impress people, I was there to learn. I tutored math 2 mornings a week before school and was part of a "peer mentoring group," which mainly consisted of showing new kids around the school and helping them get acclimated to the chaos that was Grissom. It was fun and gave me an extracurricular activity that I really enjoyed.

Surprisingly, I am quite nervous about the reunion. I know that its basically gonna be combination of prom w/alcohol and a pissing contest, but I'm still anxious about it. Maybe its because I feel that now, just like in high school, I'm not that impressive. Maybe its because I generally don't like social events with a bunch of strangers. Or maybe because I know that an open bar is both a wonderful and horrible idea. Who knows.

But one thing I know for sure - I will be dressed to impress this time. And I won't be driving home.

A Parrot's Life for Me

2010-06-10T10:29:00.004-05:00

Last week, NPR asked their listeners to write about their favorite summer job and what it taught them. I was going to write in, but I got busy and forgot about it.

The summer I graduated high school I got a job with my best friend at a local amusement park. It wasn't my first job - my first real job was working for a candy store at the airport. But after getting almost snowed in at the airport, I quit to find something more enjoyable. The amusement park was the perfect job for me - the managers were awesome, a bunch of my friends worked there and I got free admission to the water park. What more could a 17 yrs. old ask for?!

My first day of work was a Saturday, which, of course, was busy. There were tons of birthday parties booked for that day, and unbeknowst to me, that meant that the park's mascot, Putt the Parrot, had to make lots of appearances. I have no idea why, other than the fact that my manager had a twisted sense of humor, but I was chosen to wear the parrot suit all day.

The parrot costume was designed with someone of average height in mind. So, it looked quite ridiculous on my 5'4" frame. There were these yellow leg warmer like things that you had to wear . . . they weren't even visible when I wore them. The green "body" of the costume came down almost to my ankles (on a normal sized person, it stopped at the knees). The feet were HUGE!!!! And the head was massive - I couldn't see out the eye holes - so I had to have some escort me everywhere.

As a child, I would have never, ever hit, touch, harass, or attack a person in a mascot costume. Unfortunate for me, the children that were present that day did not believe the same as I did. I was mauled. The worst part was is that I couldn't run away - the combination of the over sized feet and head made it impossible for me escape my tormentors. In the midst of the battle, I looked over to find not only the rest of the staff, but also the manager, doubled over in laughter. I vowed then and there for revenge (which I later got with the strategic placement of red pepper flakes in his soda).

I ended up working there for close to 3 yrs. I learned to enjoy the parrot costume. I also learned that children, much like lions, can smell fear and that the secret to surviving the "parrot experience" was to be a complete and total ham. Sure, there were still the kids who tried to undo the Velcro on the back of the suit or turn my head the wrong way but, when you're in a costume, you can get away with smacking them.

I worked hard at that job. It was hot, there was a lot of running around, pissy costumers, and bratty children, but I would go back in a heart beat.

What was your favorite summer job?

Ta Da!!

2010-06-02T10:24:00.004-05:00

I finally finished the bedside table that I've been working on forever. I found it on the side of the road in October, but just now got around to working on it. When I picked it up, it looked as though it had been kept in someone's dark damp basement for 15yrs. The bottoms of the drawers were all swollen and rotted but there was very little damage to the wood itself.

I sanded, primed, painted, and sealed it until I got it looking like new. Popeye (my grandpa) helped me replace the bottom of the drawers with some leftover wood paneling he had lying around. See! Don't they look fancy!

Nonetheless, it now resides on P's side of the bed and looks quite nice there.

In other news, things have been more than hectic, but hopefully everything will be back to normal soon. And I received my sketch book for the Sketchbook Project and I'm over the moon excited about it. We're allowed to modify and decorate the sketch book however we see fit, so I'm currently debating whether or not to replace the paper in it . . . and how I want to decorate the cover.

I've also been reading like mad since I discover Paper Back Swap*. So stay tuned, I feel a book review post coming on . . .

*If you do decide to join this wonderful website . . . please say I recommended you! Pretty please!!

Keeping My Fingers Limber

2010-05-19T14:45:00.003-05:00

Sometime last week, the wonderful Miss Heather found the Sketchbook Project and shared it with me. I'm so freaking excited about it!

So in preparation for it, I've been working in my personal sketchbook and trying to get in the habit of sketching every day. My office is full of toys, so its not too hard to find something to draw. Above is my "office mate" Fred. He's a small red plastic guy with bendable joints (like this). And since he's so poseable, he makes lot of appearances in my sketchbook.

On a side note, if you haven't seen "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" then you need to . . .

On Femininity

2010-05-12T14:00:00.003-05:00

I listen to a lot of radio when I'm at work. Normally I listen to college radio station out of Washington State - KUPS. But since they're now on summer break, I've changed and am listening to radio programs that I can stream via PRX.

One of my favorite shows is Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. On the show, there's the host, a member from the "older" generation, one from the "middle" generation, and one from the "younger" generation and they talk about the topic and discuss the differences between the generations. Its really interesting. Today, I got stuck on their series on gender roles and the show on "Femininity" really stuck with me.

There was a general consensus that femininity, in any generation, is typically defined by men, normally through advertising and other forms of media. I'm not going to go a huge man-hating-rant, but I am going to say that the media does shape how we feel about ourselves. Wishcake touched on this earlier in the week with her post on accepting and loving her body (if you haven't read it yet, I highly suggest going and reading it.)

I think the definition of femininity is changing again. Where our mothers and grandmothers fought to wear pants, go to college, and to be treated as equals in the work force; we are pushing to go in the other direction. Skirts are in fashion and learning traditional home-making skills is popular. I read tons of blogs where women are talking about cooking more, wearing aprons, making their own jams and jellies, and generally providing for their families (or partners) in a more "traditional" sense. I know, that I personally, would love to be a home-maker and am trying to incorporate more skirts and dresses into my wardrobe.

Maybe this is our form of rebellion from our mothers. Growing up, my mom was a single mother who worked full time and went to college. Even after she remarried, she worked. My mom was part of the "Murphy Brown" generation. I don't fault my mother at all because she worked, I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and develop a relationship with them that I wouldn't trade anything in the world for, but I don't want to follow her path. I want to be home when my kids get home from school. I want family meals.

So, I guess the question is is our definition of femininity evolving or digressing? Are we disrespecting the advances made by our foremothers? Or honoring them because they fought for our right to choose our path?

Ribbit!

2010-05-11T17:37:00.005-05:00

As discussed last week, I'm feeling froggy. I want change. Most importantly, I want a job I look forward to doing. A job I feel proud of. One where I get the response of "cool" when I tell people what I do.

Only problem is that I have no idea what that job is.

10 yrs. ago (dear god! its been that long?!) when I entered college, I knew I wanted to peruse art. I knew it. I felt it in my bones. I wanted to go for photography. The college I went to stated in its catalog that it offered a BA in photography, so I thought it was a done deal. Until I got there. They had canceled the program a year before I got there and not up-dated the catalog (it was mainly an engineering university and the art department was incredibly small). So I (with a lot of pushing from the advisers) went into Graphic Design, because I could always find a job doing that, right?!

While I love good design, I'm not passionate about it. And I'm not competitive with it. Which is a huge problem. Living in a city where 95% of the jobs are in some form of engineering, you have to be competitive to get a good graphic design job. The job I have now is good in the conventional since - the pay is decent, the benefits are good, the stress level is low. Unfortunately its not very creative or inspiring. Which leaves me wanting more.

So here I am, almost 30, and wanting a career change. You maybe saying, "Ari, why not go back to school for photography? Its want you originally wanted to do." And I'm concidering it - I asked for information from a couple of grad schools today. But to be honest, it terrifies me for one simple, but important reason:

I'm not confident.

I have no confidence that anything I produce (especially photos) aren't good enough to make it. I've had tons of positive reinforcement from my friends and family, but deep down inside, I feel like they're just telling me that because they love me, not because it's actually any good. That's what family does, right? Encourage and support you. For heaven's sake, my mother used to let me walk out of the house in 4 different colored slouch socks! All because she was letting me express myself - how can I trust her opinion of aesthetics when it comes to something I do?!

All I know is that something has got to give. I'm ready to make that really scary jump and give up all that I hold secure but I just have to figure out a direction to go in. . .

So True . . .

2010-05-03T14:56:00.001-05:00

-from "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" by George Washington

On Hamster Wheels . . .

2010-04-30T09:18:00.003-05:00

So, its my 500th post and I have absolutely nothing planned. So, I'll figure something out to coincide with my 3rd blogiversary which is coming up in June.

I've been feeling kinda blah as of late. Or maybe a better word to describe it would be anxious. I'm anxious for something to happen. For things to turn around and my life to be better (financially and professionally - everything else is wonderful). My professional life is very Office Space-esque, except without all of the interesting characters. I guess I'm waiting for my "big break."

I'm not expecting it to fall in my lap - I'm willing to work for it. I just don't know what to do. Should I go back to school and change careers? Should I push my photography harder? Should I quit my job and train to become an Olympic diver?! I need direction!

I do know that something's gotta give. Being in a mood like this makes it really hard to create or even relax. And that's no good for anyone.

So, I've been trying to do things to get me out of my funk. Little things that change my routine, like setting aside 30 minutes a day to read. (Which, by the way, I'm reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and its amazing! Seriously, go check it out.)

And then I heard a story on NPR yesterday about the One Book One Twitter Project. Its a variation on the One Book One City Project that Seattle and Chicago did - basically, its like a giant book club - everyone reads the same book and discusses it on twitter. The book that was chosen is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I'm going to do my best to participate in this, cause, why not? Its something different and I've never read that book. (Also, check out this site for buying books - they give money for worldwide literacy initiatives)

While reading serves as a treatment for a symptom, its not really helping to fix the "cause" of my anxiety. I wish it did. I wish that I could pick up the Choose Your Own Adventure Book version of my life and see what my options and their outcomes are. That would be so convenient. But until that becomes available, I'll continue to run in the hamster wheel of my life and continue to try to find a way to that tasty morsel of cheese that is happiness.

Bits and Bobbles

2010-04-27T14:59:00.004-05:00

Blogging is unfortunately turning into a once a week thing for me. I come up with things to blog about, but then forget to type out the post. Adding to this is the fact that I given myself a new rule of "no internet at home" with the exception of about once a week. I'm on the computer 40-ish hrs a week, and to be completely honest, it exhausts me. By the time I get home I have so many things I want or need to do, that getting on the computer just isn't feasible. This unfortunately cuts into some of my blog reading/commenting time and for this, I'm sorry! I'll do better about getting to blogs during my one night of internet instead of playing the Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook (its so darn addictive though!)

In other news, I had a fairly exciting week:

-Monday, I came home from lunch to discover that Matthias was sick . . . it was messy and upsetting. I ended up taking the afternoon off to keep an eye on him (he's never been that sick before). After about 4 hrs of not being able to keep water down, he miraculously got better. I think it was nothing more than some food not agreeing with him, but man, was I in a panic!

- I've been experiencing "death by mucus" (aka allergies). I've never had them in my life until this year and it is truly horrible. Friday, I decided that I had had enough of this crap and medicine that doesn't work, and I used a Neti Pot. It worked wonderfully, despite the fact that I almost water-boarded myself (which, really is torture). Too bad there's not a Neti Pot to get rid of my chest congestion . . .

- Matthias had his 3rd birthday on Wednesday! I still have to order him this.

- The lovely Katie and I made bottle lamps on Sunday and she discovered that using power tools is a full body workout!

- Ms.Heather and I had a wonderful day off yesterday thrift store shopping. Among our finds is a wonderful crocheted afghan that while washed, has some sort of alluring fragrance that my dogs cannot get enough of. The afghan is now hidden until I get a chance to wash it again.

- P and I celebrating our one year anniversary of dating last night with a cheap date. I can't believe its been a year already!

How was your week?

*I completely forgot to put the link on Matthias' birthday present . . . its fixed now.

Lessons Learned

2010-04-19T10:25:00.003-05:00

While having a pet isn't the same as having children, it kinda is. The more time you spend with them, the more you see their personalities and they almost become human in their expressions and guestures.

I have two dogs - Matthias, my (almost) 3 yrs. old German Shepherd (who I've had since he was 6 wks old) and Chaka, our (who knows for sure but probably) 6 yrs. old Chichuchua mix that Matt and I adopted last October. Matthias is fairly laid back and likes to just "hang out" - though there are times when he demands my attention. Chaka is the opposite - she prefers to be the center of attention and gets quite upset when she is not.

And while having these two is sometimes trying (like when I want to take a nap and they have other plans), I still could not imagine my life without them. And, these two have taught me a lot. Here's a brief list of the things I've learned:

1. You are NEVER alone. Ever. I can't go to the bathroom, take a shower, or sit on the couch without at least one companion. Even if I shut the bathroom door, they both just lay outside of it and wait for you to come out. Have you ever had that creepy feeling that someone is watching when you're shampooing your hair? Yeah. I get that every morning and sure enough, when I open my eyes, there's Matthias with his head in the shower, just checkin' things out.

2. Every activity is a group activity. This includes (but is not limited to) eating, reading, and exercising. As we all know, I've been on this health kick lately and since I'm too cheap to pay for a gym membership, I do most of my exercising on the living room floor. My dogs love this. Chaka enjoys sitting on my chest while I do crunches; Matthias likes to nip at my ankles when I do this thing called a "pendulum": and they like to chase each other when I attempt a "plank." Yeah, good times.

3. I will never enjoy an entire piece of cheese by myself. Its really hard to enjoy something when there are 2 sets of eyes lustily staring up at you and your food.

4. I have the most well guarded house in the neighborhood. Also, our property includes the street, the alley behind the hosue, and the neighbor's houses and no one is allowed on them except members of our family.

5. Saying ridiculous things is now common place. When we first got Chaka, I felt like a complete ass standing in the yard yelling "Chaka Khan! Come here!" I've gotten used to, but there a few things that I may never get used to saying. Like:
+ "We do NOT hump heads in this house!!"
+ "Punching does not equal pets!"
+ "I am NOT a jungle gym!!!!"

6. There is always someone who is excited that I'm home. Matthias is not a very affectionate dog - he loves to receive, but rarely gives - but when I've had a bad day he's the sweetest dog you could ever ask for.

What have you learned from your pets?

Blog Swap!

2010-04-14T17:05:00.001-05:00

Hey! I participated in the 20SB Blog Swap #7 - so I posted over at Lowly Peasant Errand Girl today and she posted here. So go and check her out!

Hello all! I'm Lpeg from Lowly Peasant Errand Girl, and I'm Ari's partner for the 20 SB's 7th Blog Swap!

The topic this time is "What I Like Best About Blogging", and to me, it is the friends and support system I have made.

I started blogging about five years ago, after learning of a co-worker's blog, where he detailed the lives of his children with funny anecdotes. Wanting to try my hand at it, I started my first blog during the summer of 2005. Between work and my college internship, I barely found time to blog, and by the time I came back to it, a year had passed.

Having just ventured out into the 'real world', I started blogging fairly regularly, joining in on NaBloPoMo in order to stay on top of my blogging and keep jotting my thoughts down. I found other readers who I quickly began to enjoy, and followed their blogs religiously. Soon, I gathered a small, but fantastic group of readers, and have enjoyed being a small part of their lives, like they are in mine.

I feel lucky and privileged to know so many women (and a few men!) that I would never have met otherwise - to learn about their culture, their experiences, their heartbreak. And to know that you are not alone.

From meeting people though Peach's brilliant collaboration for You're Not The Only One, to helping out Brandy in her time of need, we band together when someone is having a rough go of it.

We are a circle of friends, and sometimes those bonds can be stronger than anything else, because here, in our own little corners of the universe, we can be ourselves. We can write how we truly feel. And not be judged for it. The support one gets from the blogging community is unbelievably generous and sincere.

Sometimes, that's all you need to get you through a bad day.

Reflections

2010-04-13T13:21:00.004-05:00

So, things have calmed down, as we all knew they would. I found a way to pay my taxes (thank Zeus for my 401k!) and I've quit hyperventilating about my weight (but I am still paying attention to my caloric intake and exercise).

So, what now? I used to believe that I would go crazy if I didn't have something to stress about, but I'm learning that that's not entirely true. I got the tax situation fixed last Thursday, so I've had 6-ish days with nothing to stress about. And I have to admit, it is kinda weird.

I had no serious plans this weekend, so on Friday I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish. I ended up just hanging out with the lovely Katie at her new apartment on Saturday, and didn't get any of the items of my list checked off. When I got home that night, I found myself thinking about it, but surprisingly, I didn't get stress about it. I just made a resolution to try and get as much of it done as I could on Sunday. Nothing was pressing or had a deadline, so why stress about it, right?

When I look back to how I was last year or even two years ago, the change is astonishing. I used to have anxiety attacks over menial things like dirty dishes or puppy-hair-tumble-weeds. And now? Now, I wash dishes twice a week and sweep once a week. That's it.

So even though I may get really stressed out over big things (like paying the IRS), I'm not near as bad as I was and that's wonderful.

Stress

2010-04-07T10:34:00.004-05:00

Things have been stressful here at Casa de la Cactus. And the stressors are all uncomfortable things like money and my disillusion with the American dream. Let's just say that because of my freelancing job last year, I owe the IRS a ridiculous amount of money and have no idea how I'm gonna come up with it in the next week. And that I don't understand why I'm always broke, I don't spend money frivolously and I have a good job.

Its frustrating. I got to have a 4 day weekend last weekend. My company gave us Friday off and I took Monday as a holiday. It was nice. Kinda like a mini-vacation. What did I do you might ask. I cleaned (if you follow my tweets, then you already knew this). And not just the usual pick-crap-up-and-move-it-to-another-room kinda clean. No, I scrubbed and dusted ridiculous things like the tops of the doors and windows and the base boards. Somewhere in my upbringing I got in my head that poor people have dirty houses, and if your house is clean (like spic-n-span clean) then that means you're not poor - you've just fallen on tough times. Which is how I perceive my situation.

So now, my house is spic-n-span and I'm still broke. And stressed.

And if that wasn't enough, this weekend was Easter, which means family time. I believe I've mentioned before that my grandma is . . . umm . . . opinionated to put it politely. Especially in matters concerning my weight. I'll admit it - I've gained a few pounds in the past year - but I'm not that big. To her, I might as well be obese.

So, I have moved on to trying to "fix" my weight. Its not just because of my grandmother, but also because somewhere in my head there is this idea that "poor are fat and I'm not fat just in a rough patch." And I know I need to loose a little. So, I've been counting calories and making plans to exercise (like attempting and failing to get up this morning to go jogging).

My obsessive cleaning and "weight-watching" are just ways for me to attempt to fix things I can control since I know that I can't "fix" my money situation. I'm displacing my frustration, I know this. And while its unhealthy in some aspects, there are some positive benefits from my actions. So at there's that.

April Fool's!

2010-04-01T09:41:00.002-05:00

I've always been fascinated with April Fool's Day. This probably stems from the fact that as a child I was terrible at telling lies. If I told so much as a white lie, I would spend hours tossing and turning in my bed until I finally got up and confessed to my mom. So, on a day when completely ridiculous lies are perfectly acceptable, I found myself unable to participate.

Except for one year, and that year will live in infamy as "The Greatest and Only April Fool's Joke Ari Has Ever Done."

I was 19, engaged to J (who my mom was not terribly fond of), and joyful college student. It was a bright and sunny day (much like today if you are in the Huntsvegas area). I waited til my lunch break and I called my mom, much like I did ever other day, and after the usual banter was over I went in for the kill.

Me: "Mom . . . I . . . I . . . I'MPREGNANT!"
Mom: "WHHHHHAAAATTTTTT!!!!!"
Me: "Yeah . . . I don't know what I'm gonna do . . . I mean I guess I can put a crib in my room and find a babysitter while I'm at class . . . and . . . and . . ." *I burst into a fit of laughter which my mom mistakes for me crying (to be fair, I was laughing so hard that I was crying)*
Mom: "Its ok, honey. We have plenty of time to worry about all that. Have you told J's parent's yet? Have you told him? What did he say?"
Me: (still laughing/crying) "He was there when I took the test . . . he says he'll marry me and we'll move in together in the mean time. He's supposed to be telling his parents now" (still uncontrollably laughing)
Mom: (starting to get frantic) "Calm down, honey. It'll be ok. We can do this. Can I call you back in just a minute? I'll be right back." *click*

And she hung up before I had a chance to end it. Unbeknownst to me, my Mom is freaking out. She hung up with me to call her best friend, so that she could freak out without me knowing (she didn't want to upset me). A few minutes later she calls back.

Mom: "Honey, how are you doing? Have you heard back from Jeremy?"
Me: "Uh Mom . . . April Fools!"
Mom: "YOULITTLEBITCH!!!!!" *CLICK*

And that was the only time my mother has ever called me a bitch. I think it maybe the only time I've ever heard her say that word.

I avoided her for a few hours. She immediately called her best friend and told her (and I'm sure called me some more names). Her best friend called me and tried to fuss at me but just started laughing.

I have never attempted another April Fool's joke. I really don't think I could top that one, so why try.

What was the best April Fool's joke that you did or that was done to you?