A day in the life

After reading this post on Design for Mankind about a day in the life of artist Kris Atomic, my partner in blogging Meaghan and I decided to do our own "day in the life" type posts.

Mine is sans pictures, but I tried to keep it amusing. So here you are, a day in the life of me. Enjoy ;)

6:45am – the alarm went off and I jerked awake reading it as 7:45am which meant I had 15 minutes before when I like to leave the house for work. I interrogated a half asleep champ about his alarm and then realized that it was my alarm going off for the first time not 12 snoozes after the fact. Relieved I went back to sleep.

7:37am – finally drug self out of bed with 23 minutes to get ready and absolutely no motivation to rush. Whatever.

7:40ish – half asleep in the shower and bit of the ceiling popcorn cover or whatever fall on me which result in me yelping because I think things are crawling on me and this really should be some sort of sign for how my day is going to go.

8:19am – finally leaving for work, getting every freaking redlight, but at least traffic isn’t terrible.

8:45am – I should have known. Of course it kinda maybe looks like rain and I’m about fifteen minutes late and there’s nowhere to park in the deck. Drive around in circles a few times hoping to get lucky and then give up and park 8 airplane hangar bays away from my desk. And it’s windy and I forgot a coat.

8:59 am – get to my desk, boot up computer and I have software updates. Well there goes my first half hour of the morning. Not that it really matters. I catch up on reading scenes that finished up after I went to bed on EC and Epi while I wait on the updates. I killed off one of my characters on Epi the other day and I was eager to see what sort of blow back might ensue with other characters. Of course they didn’t disappoint.

10:00am – guess the day starts. Going through the to-do list and getting ready for my meeting at 11. blah.

10:53am – I really hate those last few minutes before a meeting is supposed to start. I can’t really work on anything but then again I feel lazy sitting around waiting. What’s worse is I’m starved and I’ve already gotten two invitations for lunch at 11, which is when the meeting starts.

11:00 – Meeting that solved nothing.

11:30 – finally eating something which amounted to a coke and Doritos. Oh well. Looking over time updates and working on schedule for upcoming trip to Disney during my “Lunch break” Nat got back from work and messaged me and we’re re-hashing updates and what happened last night on wrestling (I know. I’m really awesome)

12:15 – back at it again. Sorta. Emailing out excel spreadsheet of schedule I made and waiting for backlash from family accusing me of being a giant nerd.

12:30 – drug out to lunch with a co worker. Normally I wouldn’t go b/c I already ate Doritos, but he wanted to go and my coworkers in my group rarely want to go out (I usually go with others from the company but not my group).

1:30 – back to the desk to emails that annoy me, but my boss’ inbox is full so I’m not as worried. Just tired of being annoyed by people.

1:40 – oh fun. The coworker who wandered off on vacation to south Africa and left me in charge of one of his projects? There’s a small crisis and I can’t do anything about it b/c he didn’t give me any information. FUN.

2:00pm – where is bossman? We’re supposed to have a meeting.

2:15pm – well he’s gone so I’m assuming it’s cancelled. I hate when he does that.

2:18pm – bossman wandered back and I asked him about the meeting. He said we’ll reschedule which isn’t a big deal. I tried to be frustrated but then he flashed me a smile and seemed in a good mood and thus I can’t stay mad at him. That’s even more frustrating.

2:59pm – co-worker’s crisis averted. Look at me go. Count today as a win.

3:03pm – lies about crisis being averted. Take away win status.

3:53 pm – another coworker comes into my cube to discuss the certification exam we’re both taking soon. Which is another reminder that I don’t want to take it. I emailed the crisis and said…sorry. There wasn’t much I could do.

5:37 – shutting down and going home.

6:45 – what in the world? First I forget until I walked out of my cube that my car is parked 8 airplane hangars away and that I have to walk that far. I ran into the manager who hired me (not bossman) who I think dyed his hair recently to look younger and had an awkward conversation, it’s cold outside and I jogged in dress shoes to catch up with a friend who’s in a hurry and doesn’t want to walk together. As I pass him the rain starts and then I’m half jogging in dress shoes with my laptop bag so I don’t get soaked.

Even better, there’s crazy traffic on the connector home (I usually go against traffic) and it takes forever to get home. At least the Office is on and Champ is home when I get home.

7:00pm – after threatening to leave me behind because I’m distracted, Champ and I head out to trivia.

7:30pm – trivia!! Dan, Gina, Jacki and David are there. The girls re-hash Twilight updates, make weekend plans and the boys talk work and a friend’s bachelor party that’s this weekend. Jacki and I decide that we’re going to see Nightmare on Elm Street on Saturday night. Trivia was harder than normal tonight, complete with questions that seemed elusive and complicated. We almost placed, but Champ wrote “Willy Wonka” instead of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for one of the last answers and we didn’t get credit. Oh well.

9:35pm – in the car on the way home. Champ and I discuss my decision to see Nightmare, which he blames on wanting to see Thomas Dekker and Kyle Gallner, which is true, but I’m also trying to get more into horror flicks. I love the stories but can’t get over being scared.

10:25 – finally setting in. Champ’s playing Kingdom Hearts II (what a great game) and I’m working on tags for the RP scene I’m working on. I’ve got three scenes to start. Including one with a vampire and a demon, a goofy phone call and what might amount to a major apology. Either way it’s a chance to talk to friends who are online this evening.

12:20am – Champ’s finishing up his game and I’m getting wrapped up on scenes so it’s about time for bed. Which is good because sleep is going to feel soo good tonight.

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Earth Day!

Do you remember Earth Day when you were younger? I do. I had that distinct opportunity of growing up in the 90s when Earth Day got its revival. It was a big deal in middle school. We had events planned, we looked forward to it.

It was a really good opportunity for me to wear my "they were here first" t-shirt with a bunch of endangered animals sitting on top of a globe. I loved that shirt. I wanted nothing more than to be a super tree hugging hippie. I wanted a compost pile and I drove my family into crazy recycling.

I think the best part is that my parents still recycle everything: glass, paper, cardboard etc etc. My dad was already a big re-user prior to their crazy daughter getting on a soapbox, but they really took that home. I think it was because it made me happy. I'm not sure to be honest.

I kind of want to post a series of items I jumped on a soapbox about when I was younger, that might make for some interesting reading.

So go out there and be green today! Starbucks takes 10 cents off your coffee when you bring in your own mug. Use your refillable water bottle today. Walk the extra steps to recycle that coke can instead of just tossing it in the trash can.

Do your part. We only get one earth, use it wisely!

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disconnected to be more connected?

I consider it a completely depressing morning to sign on and see no one online that I'm aching to talk to. Like today, one friend's already at home and sleeping from working midnights, another isn't visible or isn't online which either means she's still on vacation or she's busy at work from her vacation.

One's at work, three more are getting ready for finals. One or two are probably still asleep. So now my buddy list looks like a collection of friends from school I rarely talk to and an ex-boyfriend who I'd rather not talk to.

It's sad how much of my life gets sucked into this internet. I have true friendships online, and I've reconnected with friends online. I'm rarely on facebook, even though I still have an account (no Farmville for me), I don't play WoW. I think my biggest time suck on the internet is RPing, but I've got a practical explanation for that as well (not one that anyone believes, but I'll continue to use it).

But I've been waking up every morning with knots twisted into my shoulders and upper back. Is it from the fact that I weigh more now than I ever have in my life (being older sucks), or because I spent probably 12+ hours a day in front of a computer when you combine in work time?

I was reading a post by a blogger who'd decided he was done with it. For four months he was done. No email, no blogs (!), no google, no nothing.

In short: a death sentence.

How would I function without imdb to determine who that random actor who guest starred on House last week was, and what else I know him from? How would I find anything, make appointments, pay bills? (I got annoyed just now that I had to call the massage spa to make the appointment to deal with the ache in my shoulders from the damn computer. Seriously.)

I won't even start into how impossible it would be to even start to do my job without email.

Yet, after a few days (weeks?) would it feel refreshing? Or would I just be annoyed that my hubs plays too many video games? Would it mess up our balance of me tagging and him killing the heartless on Kingdom Hearts?

It might ensure that we go to bed at the same time, but then again it might not. I did a rare thing and shut down the computer early the other night, he still came to get two hours later. And if I stop being online who's to say that I won't be up just as late scrapbooking or reading? I did those things before I was online all the time. I still do them now.

Sometimes I don't know if it would change things. I like that hubs and my girlfriends are just an email or an IM away. This is increasingly useful for someone who loses her phone until it's dead and then really can't find it.

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Ahh! Real Monsters!

More fun had with the April Commit2Paper kit!

I got these TOO CUTE monster stamps and just had to use them. ASAP. Like as soon as I bought them used them.









What do you think? Too cute for words? Yes?

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just playing along

A few of the blogs I read have been passing around little meme's where you fill out info about yourself. I figured it couldn't hurt to play along (since I don't have photos of the cards I made last night to post yet).

List 10 things that make you happy and 5 bits of trivia about yourself.

hmm 10 things that make me happy...

1. A google reader with more than 10 posts to read and a gdocs with at least three updates
2. being lazy on a sunday with Champ
3. Good food + good friends
4. Cheesy movies (ranging from kid movies to silly romantic comedies)
5. a good song on in the car right before you get where you're going
6. warm sunshine through an open window of a car
7. new artsy supplies (even new adhesive makes me happy)
8. hugs
9. anything involving one of my best girlfriends.
10. shopping successfully (good deals, finding just what you were looking for etc)

5 fun things about me...

1. I have four tattoos, but Champ has none.
2. I reconnected with an old friend last fall and I feel like even though we missed about five years of each other's lives (longer?) nothing's changed. We're still booty dancing in my dorm room freshman year to avoid studying.
3. I think I got more out of reading old Manga books I dug out of a box and watching an animated movie this weekend than anything else. (This probably means I haven't changed much since being a high schooler.)
4. I've always wanted someone to write a song or a poem about me. (I think someone MIGHT have written a poem about me once, but I'm not sure)
5. My favorite part of an airplane ride is always take off.

Enjoy!

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Forward by Moving Backward

I think sometime about my senior year in high school when the "bootcut" style jean finally came out I swore to myself I'd never buy a pair of wide leg jeans again. Somewhere in the early 90's about the same time Saved by the Bell went off the air, I swore the same thing about anything with paint splatters on it. Never would I wear clothes with paint on them unless I'd gotten the paint on them while painting.

This weekend I bought both.

While at Old Navy I ended up buying a pair of "weekender" style jeans, which essentially look like I stole Champ's pants. (That is if you ignore the fact that I can't wear his jeans nor would they be loose if I did.) They've got blue and white paint along the sides which sort of look like I might have wiped my hands off on them at some point. I also bought a pair of worn in khakis at Gap with a similar bit of paint markings.

And I love them both.

There's something to be said about a pair of jeans that look decent but also aren't really showing off everything for a Sunday afternoon at Michael's.

Comfort aside...have we really gone this far backward? I had an online friend complain one day that she wished her kids had been in high school in the 90s. When I asked why, she pointed out that buying flannel shirts at Walmart was far better than buying them at Abercrombie and Fitch. I had to have a good laugh at that. I remember a time when we all wanted to look like Angela from My So Called life. I remember being solidly jealous of my friend Patty's collection of oversized flannel shirts that doubled as jackets.

Hell, I remember when everything was oversized.

And yet, we're doing it all over again. Of course with new tweaks. The oversized flannel isn't actually oversized, it's just longer. And instead the tapered leg jeans? They're skinny jeans now (I bought a new pair of those as well to make up for the wide legged splatter paint jeans). I even saw a pair of new aged Doc Marten's at DSW not too long ago (I had to force myself to not buy them since I still have the pair from high school).

It's not the first time. I know my mom freaked out with flare jeans were in style again because she wore them in high school too. But aren't I too young to see the styles again?

At least my chuck taylors are still in style.

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More Layouts!!

I've been tearing through this Commit2Paper kit for April. Seriously you're gonna love it.

Lately I've been trying to do more challenge blogs, helping with inspiration and the like. Mostly I've found myself trying out sketches, and so far so good.

This layout was done using the Pencil Lines #180 sketch. I always find using sketches amusing because they never come out looking the same.



This was done using the Sketch Inspiration Sketch from last week. Again, I swear I started with the same one as everyone else.



Last but not least I did this card with the sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches.



Thanks for looking!!

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New Ink

I finally got out and got my new ink. I'd been tossing a few ideas around, two different phrases I wanted, one that would be added to my lower back tattoo, the other would be along my ribcage. I was pretty set on the lower back work, but I spent weeks trying to find the right font, to no avail. Everything looked good, but not great.

Giving in, I went with the tat on my ribcage, because I knew how I wanted that to look. Although the idea was to do something less memorial, more for me, I think it still worked out well.



The phrase is partially from the Sugarland song "Take Me as I Am" (click for link for a bad fan video with the song):

Yea he's yelling about my tattoos
but we all live with the scars we choose
they might hurt like hell
but they all make us stronger

I love this. I love the description of tattoos as a scar you choose to bear. Two of my three previous tattoos are memorial tattoos, one with Ian's (a high school friend who died in a car accident in 2003) initials and each of the stars on my foot represents someone I've lost. I also love the idea that you can choose what you live with, what in your life sticks with you and what in your life you can move on from.

Even more than that, they do hurt, all those things that tear us up, or all the marks permanently on your body hurt like hell. But it's not that it hurts that matters, it's what you do with it in the end. I'm not a terribly spiritual person, but I firmly believe we're never given anything we can't handle. Sometimes when you're in the thick of it, it doesn't feel like you'll make it out on the other end, but if you hold on and don't give up? You can make it through anything.

I get lots of grief for the ink on my body: co workers, friends, family, but I try to not let it bother me. My tats are minimal compared to most, but they all mean something to me, something I want to share with the world, or something I need there with me at all times. Friends panicked when I got Ian's initials tattooed on my ankle. Multiple people have asked me how my future husband (or now that I have one how Champ) would feel about that, having another boy's initials tattooed on my body. Prior to meeting Champ the answer was always "I don't want to marry him if he doesn't understand."

And Champ? He understands. He gets it, that I spent every day of my life after Ian died, suffering through remembering him, forcing myself to not forget, until I finally sat down in the chair and had those three little letters put on my body. Now I don't have to remember, relive the pain, because I can't forget. And you know what? I'm okay with that scar; I love that scar.

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