2012: The Year in Stats

2012 was a pretty big year.  We all survived the end of the world, I got my wisdom teeth out, I got Twitter and Pinterest, I accomplished some goals, and I gave my blog a new title and then it grew like crazy!

If you'd like to compare, last year's Year in Stats is here.

The most striking thing to me is that on the day last year with the most views ever, I got less views than I get on average now.  That really just blows my mind.

I actually don't know how I figured out which day had the most blog views last year, but I remember that one day this year I watched my stats page incredulously as I got more than 900 pageviews in a single day.

The month with the most blog views was December again, with 9,695 views. (That's four times as much as the highest month last year!) Also, IT'S OVER 9,000!  (Dragonball Z reference because I am a nerd and I have watched many many many seasons of that show.)

Post with the most views: this one

Most popular search keyword: galaxy wallpaper

At the end of this year, I have 131 followers!!! You guys, last year I was crazy excited to have 26 followers. I can't even wrap my mind around how much my blog has grown in the past year.  I am still amazed that anyone wants to take time out of their day to read about my life and my random thoughts.  I've told you guys this before, but I'll say it many more times because it's true; You guys who read my blog are amazing!  My blog has been viewed a total of 75,154 times.  Again mind-blowing.  My head has exploded now and there are brain fragments scattered all across the room.  Not really though.  Awkward post ending is awkward.  Maybe next year I'll figure out how to end posts in a way that makes sense.  Probably not though.  This is the Rabbit Hole and we're all mad here.

Book Review: Seven Days in Berlin

Neil sent me a free copy of his new book and I adored it.  The comics are cute yet cause emotions at the same time.  Neil does an excellent job of making simple drawings really symbolic.  For example, there's a panel where the last leaf falls off a tree and it makes you feel really sad.  The book is so much more than an illustrated travelogue, because let's be honest here, I don't usually read travelogues.  And by I don't usually read travelogues, I mean that unless you count the Ancient History posts on Melbourne on My Mind, this is the first travelogue I've ever read.  This book made me laugh and cry numerous times.  I loved the part at the zoo and the abandoned themepark seemed so cool!  Did I mention that I loved this book?  I don't really review books, so that's the best I can do.  I would easily give this book 5 stars out of 5, and highly recommend it to everyone.  You can buy your own copy here for only $6.61 in U.S. dollars (4 pounds in British currency).

Things I Say When I Play Racing Games

I love playing video games but sometimes I'm not very good at them.  The two types of games that I am always bad at are racing games and first-person shooters.  The things I say while playing first-person shooters are either not very family-friendly or plain screaming every time I get shot (usually every 5 seconds to 1 minute), so here are the things that I say while playing racing games.



Obviously this isn't a screenshot of me playing because I am always in 8th place

1. Is this one of those games where your car repairs itself when you take enough damage?

2. I didn't go fast enough for that jump to help.

3. Wait, am I going backwards?!

4. How have I still not completed a full lap?!

5. I'm stuck against the wall.

6. How do I go in reverse?

7. Everybody just lapped me again.

8. Everybody already finished but I am almost done with my first lap now.

And these are the things that I say specifically while playing Mario Kart.

1. Yay, I'm in 7th place! Nope, 8th again.

2. I got a blue shell : )

3. I was too far behind everyone for the blue shell to actually help.

4. I fell off Rainbow Road again.

5. Stupid snowman!

So if you want to seriously beat someone at video games, play a racing game against me.

Sometimes You Just Have to Draw your Feelings



G and I broke up last night.  It was mutual.  My priorities in life aren't the same as the ones he thinks I should have.  For him, getting a degree should be the most important thing to me (after getting healthy again), even if it's in something I'm not interested in.  There are lots of other things too, but that is the only one I feel like sharing.  We dated for 15 and a half months.  We discussed getting married at some point in the future.  That's the part that's the hardest for me; whenever I pictured my future, I pictured us happily married and now that is never going to happen.  We had both been trying to ignore the fact that I'm not the girl he wants to be with.  If there was a checklist, I don't have the most important qualities on it.  I want him to be happy so I had to face the truth.  It really sucks.  This is my first real break-up ever (G and I broke up once before but that lasted for less than a day.)  This time it's for real.  We can still be friends but we'll probably hae to stop when he meets another girl.  I just won't be able to hang out with him and pretend that it doesn't bother me that someone else makes him as happy as I used to.  So I'm watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and devouring blog archives and drawing my feelings on Post-its.

My mom called when she noticed my single status on Facebook.  She said she's going to come get me and take me back home with her and my dad until I get better.  I asked her not to do that yet.  She said she doesn't want me to have to be alone on Christmas and I told her it would be even more depressing being around her delicious home-cooked food and not being able to eat any, which is true.

So on Christmas, I'll sit in my room alone with my cranberry citrus candle lit and open the Christmas gifts my dad brought me on Saturday.  I'll probably watch Buffy.  Maybe I'll try to put up my one strand of Christmas lights (these walls are really dense and very hard to put push pins in).  But I won't be with my family and I won't have Christmas dinner and I'm not looking forward to it.  I'm sad right now.  Half of the time I can keep it together and then the littlest thing turns me into a pile of snot and tears.  I won't post when I'm feeling the worst because I don't want people to be depressed by my posts.  I have a book review planned.  Spoiler alert: It's a really great book and I loved it.

Help me Out or Just Chat

Hey lovely people, I think that you guys who read my blog are pretty cool people.  I would love to know you guys better.  I kind of love "meeting" people on the internet and I can't follow every single person who follows me anymore (Seriously, since when do I have over 100 blog followers?! Oh yeah, since this month.)  If I don't follow your blog through GFC, I might actually still follow it through Bloglovin', but I have so many blogs that I follow, I need to practice restraint and stop following more unless I see one and go, "Wow, we need to be virtual BFFs this instant!"  I can hardly keep up with all of the blogs I follow as it is.  That being said, I still find people fascinating and would love to email with you guys or at least chat in the comments section.  My email is jaythejedi@live.com, because I'm a Jedi (in case you didn't already know).  Feel free to email me about anything you want.

Second thing: I have started featuring a Blog of the Month and Shop of the Month now.  I have decided that the Blog of the Month will be a blog of any size that I am particularly in love with that month.  The shop will be an Etsy shop with amazing products and fewer than 50 sales.  I feel like this is a great way to help other Etsy sellers who haven't sold a lot yet and might be feeling less-than-thrilled-and-positive about that fact.  Each month the featured blog and shop will receive one month of free ad space on my blog, as well as a feature post about them.  The shop portion will include three of my favorite products from their shop.  I'll also include any social media links that the shop and blog owner would like to share.  I already picked out the blog and shop for next month, but I could use your help for the following months.  I would love it if you guys would share all of the lovely little Etsy shops you come across on your travels.  It could even be your own!  They don't have to have less than 50 sales.  I still do occasional Etsy Interviews and those will be with shops of any size.  Besides that, I also love Pinning like crazy all manner of wonderful Etsy products to my Etsy Pinterest boards.  I love to do everything I can to support handmade businesses of all sizes.  It's really my passion, so I would love your help with doing that.

To summarize, email me about anything your heart desires at jaythejedi@live.com, comment on my posts if you'd like (I don't even have annoying CAPTCHAs), and share all of the lovely Etsy shops with me.  Please and thank you and have a lovely day.

The First and Only Time I went Snowboarding

When I was either in middle school or early high school, my youth group went on a snowboarding trip to Mount Hood.  I had never been snowboarding before.  We rented our gear and rode the ski lift.  At the top, I surprisingly managed to get off the ski lift without falling flat on my face.  I followed my brother to the top of a very very very steep slope.  To me it seemed to be about an 85 degree angle, but it was probably more like 60 degrees which is still very steep.  My brother told me that all of the slopes are that steep so I started going down it.  (For the record, he had never been to Mount Hood before and he actually did think that they were all that steep.)  He was going to go after me.  I was doing great and going increasingly super fast when I realized that no idea how to stop or even slow down.  And then I fell while going really really way too ridiculously fast.  My glasses flew off and I couldn't find them so I sat there and waited for my brother and hoped he wouldn't run over my glasses.  I sat there for what seemed like 20 minutes, but was probably only 1 or 2.  It was enough time for two teenage boys to ride by and laugh at me.  Jerks.  My brother rode down and stopped and I asked him to find my glasses, which he did, and then told me how to slow down and stop before I took off again.  I rode down the remaining half of the slope without falling down again, by turning my board almost sidewise to slow down and then I stopped at the bottom.  I rode the ski lift back up with my best friend and we discovered the bunny slope, where we stayed for the rest of the day.  She was way worse at snowboarding than me and spent most of the day sliding down on her butt while I kind of got the hang of it and only fell occasionally.  At the end of the day, we all went back home and, wihtout the numbing effect of the freezing weather that had been present on the mountain, I realized that my neck hurt terribly.  I went to the doctor the next day and found out I had whiplash and got a super-stylish (sarcasm) neck brace that I had to wear for a week.  It turns out that I got whiplash on the first run when I crashed, then kept going the rest of the day with whiplash, because it was so cold that I didn't realize my neck hurt.  I was lucky that I didn't injure my neck worse.  And I have not gone snowboarding since.  I'll stick to sledding or making snowmen (and snow owls), snow angels, and having snowball fights.

There are no pictures from that trip, but here is a snow owl I made in January of this year.

Indie Game Reviews: Story Nexus

You might remember me discussing Fallen London a while ago.  It is on a website called Story Nexus.  Since I shared Fallen London, the Story Nexus website has added the ability for anyone who wants to, to be able to create their own storygame.  Storygames are sort of like choose-your-own-adventure books, which you might have read as a child.  You read a story and then you get to choose what the main character does, which affects what happens in the story.  These games are like those books mixed with a traditional role playing game, where your choices affect your abilities and you develop specialized skill sets.  These games are made by different people.  Some are authors, some are game developers, and some are even scientists.  You can play all of the storygames other people made or you can make your own.  My favorite, and the most developed, storygame is Fallen London, which I discussed before.  In this game, your character lives in a seedy steampunky version of London, hence Fallen London.

Other storygames I have played on the site are Cabinet Noir and Zero Summer.  I didn't really enjoy Cabinet Noir.  In that storygame, your character is a French Detective.  It's just not the sort of book that I enjoy.  Surprisingly, I really enjoy Zero Summer.  It seems like more of a Western and takes place in Amarillo, Texas.  I think I enjoy it because the main character, who you play, is a man with amnesia who has to rediscover who he is.  Somehow that appeals to me.  The other game that I am the most excited about playing, but haven't yet, is called The Hour.  The premise is fairly simple; you have to live through the same hour over and over and over...forever.  It sounds like it should be very thought-provoking.

Update: It's not at all surprising that I really enjoy Zero Summer because now I learned that it is set in post-apocalyptic Amarillo, Texas.  I don't think I've told you, but you may have realized, that post-apocalyptic worlds are my favorite settings for both books and movies.  Insane asylums are a close second.  Reason 5,981 why I'm weird.

There is a storygame for everyone, humor, history, romance, scifi, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, educational, and quite a few that defy all labels.  Also be sure to check out the Winter 2012 World of the Season winners, Samsara (1st place, Zero Summer (2nd place), and Evolve (3rd place). (I forgot to mention that there's a competitive element involved in the world creation part.)  Click here to see all of the worlds and find one (or six) that you enjoy.

The O of OCD

I have OCD.  I have talked about it a bit before.  I have mostly discussed the "C" portion, which stands for compulsive.  It means that you feel the overwhelming need to do a certain thing and if you don't do it, then you can't concentrate until you do or you just have to remove yourself from the situation completely.  For me, my stongest compulsion is straightening pictures.  If there is a crooked picture in the room, I have to straighten it, even if I am out to dinner and the picture is all the way on the other side of the room and I have to walk past numerous other diners to get to it.  If I don't straighten the picture, I have to stare at something else so I don't accidentally look at the crooked picture again.  It makes me feel uncomfortable when there are pictures that aren't hanging straight.  A compulsion that I had when I was youger, but outgrew, was much much worse.  When I put on my pajamas before going to bed, I had to put my dirty clothes into the hamper a total of three times.  I couldn't toss everything in at once.  I had to do it in three separate times.  For example, I would put in my socks, then pick up my shirt and put that in, then my shirt last.  It had to total three times, not four, not two, not one, three.  If I didn't do it in three, then I felt like something very very bad was going to happen.  If I was just putting my socks into the hamper and nothing else, I had to put them in one at a time, then take one out and put it in again, so that it totalled three.  My parents were not aware of this behavior and therefore I was not diagnosed with OCD until I was in high school.

But I am not talking about compulsions today; I am talking about obsessions.  I'm sure that everyone knows what an obsession is.  Maybe you're obsessed with a famous person or a band or a certain TV show.  An obsession is something that you are so fascinated with that you cannot get it out of your head and can easily devote a large amount of your time, and in some cases money, to it.  It is possible for anyone to become obsessed with something.  It is much much easier for a person with OCD to become obsessed.  I'm not sure if I told you this story before but if I have it was a long time ago so I'll tell it again. 

When I was about 12 years old, my brother and I shared a Game Boy.  Not a Game Boy Color, but an old black-and-white Game Boy which had no backlit screen.  This was old technology at that time but it was what my mother allowed us to have so we were happy with it.  We were each allowed to play it for 20 minutes a day and not a minute more.  My uncle hit a deer on his motorcyle and became very badly injured.  He was in the hospital for a very long time.  He has recovered now, aside from brain damage.  When he was in the hospital, my mother and my grandmother would go to Portland to visit him every single day.  Since it was during the summer, my mother would drop my brother and I off with my grandfather while they went to the hospital.  We were allowed to visit later, but at first his injuries were so awful that if a kid saw them, they would be scarred for life.  Of course my brother and I would bring the Game Boy when we went to our grandfather's house for the day.  Our grandfather would sit in the dining room and watch TV while my brother and I were in the living room.  He didn't really check on us that often, except for when he brought us our lunch.  He definitely didn't enforce the rules.  Our mother allowed us to play Game Boy for one hour each while we were at grandpa's house.  We always played for much longer than that, but took turns, because we knew how to share.  We got this game called Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle and it was one of those games where you couldn't save but you did get a password every time you beat a level.  My brother and I would each play until we died three times and then let the other one play.  We were trying really hard to beat this game, which must have had about 50 levels.  It took many days.  On the day that we would beat it, we played for a long time and then finally reached the last level, where the final boss was a big witch.  My brother tried again and again to defeat her, but couldn't figure out how.  He got frustrated and left me to defeating the final boss.  I tried and tried for hours and then I finally beat it!  Later our mom came and took us home.  I was in washing up for dinner and there were Bugs Bunny's floating in my vision as I washed my hands!  I was really frightened but my mom knew right away that I had played the Bugs Bunny game for too long.  The thing with the screen on the old Game Boy not being back-lit is that it causes much more eye strain than today's screens.  Bugs Bunny stayed in my vision for a few more hours and it was long enough that I never played longer than my time limit after that. 

The point of me telling this story is to illustrate how I can become obsessed with things fairly easily.  My brother quit when the game got frustrating but I had to keep playing until I beat it.  To this day, I get this way with computer games, which is why I can never ever start to play World of Warcraft.  I stick to Flash games like escape the room games and point and click games.  These games are shorter and can be beaten in the course of a day.  When I discover a TV show that I enjoy, I have to watch every single episode that exists all in a row until I'm done.  When I first started reading blogs and in fact up until the beginning of this year, when I discovered a new-to-me blog that I enjoyed I had to read all of it.  I would take days just reading through the archives and stopping only to eat, sleep, or take a bathroom break.  I don't do that with blogs any more.  I have managed to outgrow that obsession, but I do still love to read blogs.  Don't even get me started on websites where you earn achievements or badges.  I can stay on those for days until I earn all of the badges.  There is this really difficult Flash game called Achievement Unlocked.  Your character is an elephant and you have to traverse the small game area earning achievements.  You can see the names of the achievements but that is it.  There are over 100 different achievements.  You have to try things and push random keys on your keyboard until you figure out how to do things.  A random key will turn everything orange and you earn an achievement for that.  You earn an achievement for having your elephant hit the spikes 100 times.  I played that game for an entire day straight and most of the night until I earned all of the achievements.  By the end I was no longer having fun.  I even had to look up the walkthrough and then do everything it told me until I got the remaining achievements.  Most people would have been satisfied with just reading how in the walkthrough or even just quitting the game, but not me, I couldn't stop until I earned every last achievement.

The reason I share all of these personal things with you is to help you understand why I do some of the things that I do and also to be real.  I personally can't stand blogs where it's nothing but cute outfits and fun outings and yummy foods and nobody ever even gets a splinter.  I like to read about real people doing real things.  Real people make mistakes.  Real people don't have perfect lives.  Real people have things that make them weird and unique.  So this is me letting you all know that I am a real person, just in case you didn't already know that.

Princess Bride Band Names

You guys might remember that Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies ever.  You also might remember that when I have a fever my brain thinks strange things.  Well I woke up with a fever this morning and now I'm watching Princess Bride on TV.  There are certain phrases that I thought would make either really good or really bad band names, so I'm going to share them.

Good Band Names:
Shrieking Eels
Six-Fingered Man
Rodents of Unusual Size

So-So Band Names:
Unemployed in Greenland
Murdered by Pirates
Burned by Acid

Bad Band Names:
Get Used to Disappointment
Pit of Despair
Warthog-Faced Buffoon

Movie Review: American Zombie

In case you're tired of everyone's Christmas posts, here's a zombie movie review.  American Zombie is a mockumentary.  It is about two people who have teamed up to film a documentary about the living dead population residing in the Los Angeles area.  They have jobs and "lives" just like ordinary people.  One works at a grocery store.  The documentarians are surprised to learn that zombies don't have refrigerators full of dead bodies to eat, and that they don't even eat people.  They eat normal human food.  Then the two documentarians convince the zombies to let them tag along to an event in the desert, similar to Burning Man or Coachella.  This event is normally zombies-only and the documentarians are the first humans to ever attend.  At the event they learn a surprising secret that changes everything.

This movie was kind of funny at the beginning but by the end it was really depressing.  One of my favorite quotes from this movie is on the poster, "We're here. We're dead. Get used to it."  I would not recommend this movie at all.  At the beginning I was thinking it was going to be really good but then it turned into a completely different movie, one that I didn't like at all.  I had high hopes for this movie, but it fell short.  I can only give this movie 1 star out of 5.

Album Design History at the EMP

You may remember that G and I went to the Experience Music Project in August.  Well I might have accidentally forgotten to share a lot of the pictures I took with you, including pictures of the sci fi exhibit and the horror exhibit.  Today I'm sharing a couple of my favorite pictures, the pictures of the design history pieces.  I wish there were more of them because they were so cool!

 

 

I really love looking at album designs.  It's especially cool to see how they did mockups back before they had computer software to use for them.  I wonder how many different designs they went through before they get to the final versions.  I wish that there was a famous album cover design history museum.

Blog and Shop of the Month 1

The first ever Blog of the Month is a blog that I discovered fairly recently.  It is called Eef Etc. and I discovered it through my discovery of Indie Gift Box on Twitter.  Erin is the mastermind behind Indie Gift Box, which I've blogged about recently.  She also shares my love of Supernatural and does amazing graphic design work.  She makes jewelry too.  She is a really nice person and has very good taste, so you should all pay her a visit.

Blog | Twitter | Pinterest

My first ever Shop of the Month is Beejou Designs.  I discovered this shop last week and fell in love.  All of the jewelry is so beautiful and well-made while still being completely affordable.  It also makes me wish I had a place to hammer metal but alas, my neighbors would not appreciate all that racket.  Emily has only been on Etsy since November.  If you still have some Christmas shopping to do, you should definitely stop by her shop.  Even if you don't have money, you should at least look at her gorgeous jewelry.

Each month I will pick a different blog and shop to feature.  You can find them in the upper right sidebar.  I really like doing this because it allows me to appreciate and share people who I think do great things.  It also works better than just tweeting "You guys should check this out; It's really cool."  I hope that you all enjoy this new feature as much as I do.  Congratulations to my first featured people : )

Friday Reveal and An Important Announcement

Sorry, no alliteration this Friday.  I know, I miss it too.  You'll survive.

Two things today, in case you couldn't tell by reading the title.  No wait, three things.

Thing One: The big reveal!  This is what was in the Indie Gift Box this month.  I'm revealing this just in time for you to buy an Indie Gift Box next month.  They come out at the beginning of each month and there is only a limited number available.  They are a great way to discover lots of new (to you) indie businesses and also get great products for a seriously discounted price.  The Indie Gift Box cost me $20 and it contained all of this.

These two were my favorites and the only ones I kept: a cute little itty
bitty deer necklace and a cranberry candle that smells exactly like Christmas!

I sent the giveaway winner the Matryoshka ornament, Christmas card, and snowman gift tag, as well as the business cards with discount coupons.

Announcement time!  I am doing away with ad swaps.  All of the current ad swaps will still exist, but they are moved to a tab at the top called "Cool People".  Each month I will pick a new Blog of the Month and a new Shop of the Month.  They will go where the Ad Swaps currently are, underneath the search bar.  I will write a post each month telling you who the Blog of the Month and Shop of the Month are, along with a little bit about each.  If you would still like to be in my sidebar, you can purchase ad space here starting at just $3.

Doctor

I went to the doctor yesterday to find out what was wrong with my stomach and also why I had a rash.  They drew blood to check me for a bacteria called H. pylori. They'll call back and let me know if that's it or not. They put me on a medicine to decrease stomach acid. If it is H Pylori, then I have to take antibiotics until all the bacteria gets killed. If not they'll have to do an endoscopy and look at my stomach from the inside to see if I have an ulcer or something worse. I called my boss and told her what's going on and she said that it's the same symptoms she had when she had gall bladder problems. They would do an ultrasound to check for that.

The rash is most likely something called pityriasis rosea. Experts don't know what causes it. It should go away in 6 to 8 weeks. They prescribed me a stronger hydrocortisone cream to reduce itching.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back to work.  I'll have to wait until my stomach gets better.  Also I lost 5.5 pounds last week from not being able to keep food down.  It is never healthy to lose that much in one week.  Thankfully I have found some foods that I can eat now without getting an upset stomach.  I can eat bland foods like hard-boiled eggs, plain noodles, and plain white rice.  I can also eat foods that help with stomach issues.  I found on the internet that bananas reduce stomach acid and ginger snaps help nausea, so I tried them and it works.

At this point the most important thing is to try not to lose more weight by eating bland foods and to stay hydrated.

Etsy Love: Seattle Edition

As you read this, I am at the doctor, hopefully figuring out why my stomach hates me and also what is causing this itchy new mystery rash on my stomach, chest, and back.  I'll report any findings tomorrow.

In the meantime, you should chack out this Etsy treasury that I made.  It's chock full of lovely Seattle-made goods that would make wonderful Christmas gifts.  There is something for pretty much any budget.  There are 16 items in total, and here are three.

I'm Thankful for Pinterest

I really am thankful for Pinterest and also I'm trying to write a post before the big game comes on in a couple of minutes.  Pinterest has taught me stuff I didn't know about myself, like I love striped clothing and shabby chic design.  If you like what you see go follow me on Pinterest.  I have lots of other boards too.

Why Does My Stomach Hate Me?!

For a few months now, every time I eat something, my stomach has been in a lot of pain, and quite often makes me puke.  This is not fun by any means and it has progressively been getting worse.  It doesn't even matter what I eat anymore, because everything does it.  Spicy foods, coffee, and fruits and veggies cause the worst pain.  This morning I woke up with the stomach pain and hadn't even eaten anything.  What's worse is that I had planned to go give my resumes to lots of different shops but now I can't do so because I'll either be grimacing in pain or burping a ridiculous and embarrassing amount.  Luckily for me, G is wonderful and very compassionate.  He holds my hand and even eats in the kitchen when my stomach hurts to the point where I can't eat so I don't have to smell or see the yummy food.  I think that I probably have acid reflux but I don't know for sure because doctors don't see people who can't pay them, and right now I am a person who can't pay both a doctor and my rent, so I choose rent.  To make matters worse my Grandpa was diagnosed with acid reflux before and then they learned that it was actually stomach cancer by the time that it was stage 4 cancer.  This is always at the back of my mind and I try not to think about it.  I know that I probably don't have cancer but I have also always been extremely prone to worry.  G would say that I'm catastrophizing.  I'm also very tired of the people in my building asking if I'm pregnant when I'm sick to my stomach.  No I'm not pregnant; stop asking.  I would just like to be better for Thanksgiving, because I am spending it with G's family again and don't want to have to hide in the bathroom and hope they can't hear me burping, or just suffer in pain.

Update: I have thankfully been put back on full-time at work for now, so I set up a doctor's appointment at the neighborhood clinic for poor people for next Wednesday.

Friday Fashion: Is it Winter Yet?

I wore this outfit today to go sell books and look fashionable while giving my resume to fashion places.  The bookstore only bought one book : (  Brave and unedited pictures once again.

hat: Wish (it has a pom pom on top but you can't see it in the picture, yellow shirt: Walmart (I got it in high school), dress: yard sale for just $6, tights: eBay (they're really good tights, not just really good for $5), boots: Goodwill

Stuff I Learned...

...from having a full-time job and then having it turn into only working 16 hours a week

1.  It is always a good idea to try to make yourself as irreplacable as possible by appearing eager and positive about everything you do at work even if you hate it.  (I only hated a few tasks at work, mainly scrubbing the finishes off of coins to put other finishes on them.)

2.  No matter how valuable you are to the team at work, if the boss can't afford to pay you, you'll probably get laid off.

3.  Know what you're good at and be sure to do those things when you've finished your assigned tasks.  Make your boss like you by not constantly bugging her (or him).  This is what made my boss decide to keep me on, even though it's just a tiny bit, rather than some of the other employees who have been working there for five years.

4.  Sometimes you have to spend money on things and sometimes you can still wear your old socks that all have holes in them and jeans that don't fit well at all.  You shouldn't feel bad about buying stuff that you didn't absolutely need, especially when you get the best deal possible. (although I have definitely been wishing I didn't buy that stuff but it's not like I could know this would happen, or that I'd have a crazy hospital bill for that matter)

5.  There's pretty much always more stuff you can sell (or try to sell because I tried to sell some of my clothes yesterday and they only bought one item).  I also plan to sell my netbook and books.

6.  Connections are super important.  Always be friendly to people who work at places where you shop because at some point you might be applying for a job there.

That's pretty much it.  I'm going to go try to sell some books now and then update my resume with my most recent information and then go apply for jobs.

Fall Favorites and Some News

favorite fall beverage: chai tea latte (I like to get the Oregon Chai stuff from the store and make them myself at home because it is so much cheaper than buying them.)

favorite fall accessory: hats

favorite color of changing leaves: dark red

favorite pie: pumpkin


And now for the news.  Everyone at my work got laid off because we only got three new orders last week instead of the usual fifty or so.  My boss can't afford to pay us when she isn't getting paid herself.  However I am being kept on two days (16 hours) a week to do inventory.  I do still need to find a new job though.  In order to make the bare minimum I need each month (which would just pay rent) I need $100 a month more than I'll be earning.  I do have enough money saved for two more month's rent.  This couldn't have come at a worse time though since I did miss over a week off my last paycheck because of wisdom teeth surgery complications.  I'm kind of wishing I didn't buy everyone's Christmas presents already so I would have more money.  Hopefully I'll be able to find a job quickly this time, unlike before.  So today I am super duper busy trying to sell books, clothes, photograph and list jewelry for my Etsy shop, make new new jewelry, speed up my laptop, and way too many other things.  I also need to update my resume and references and then tomorrow the job hunt begins once again.  I'm working Wednesday and Thursday each week now.

Second thing (well third, I guess): I created the code CHRISTMAS2012 for my Etsy shop.  Use it on purchases now through Christmas to receive 10% off your order.  There will be quite a few more things for sale there in the next few days too, so watch for those.  Also as of today my Etsy shop, Honeybee Alley, ships to the UK.  I have no idea how much things cost to ship there so the shipping prices may change in the future.

Friday Fashion: A Fall Outfit

Here are some unedited pictures of a Fall outfit that I wore last week.  I'm either really brave or really lazy.  (I'm actually both.)

Bonus pic for adorableness

hat: Christmas gift from my Grandma two years ago, velvety tanktop with lace trim: Christmas gift from Mom last year, gray and white striped long sleeve shirt: Walmart years and years ago, orange shorts: Forever 21 on sale online for $8 with a great lace belt included, tights: eBay (I love them because they're inexpensive and warm), boots: Goodwill, earrings: made by me, necklace: also made by me and soon to be for sale in my Etsy shop (meaning whenever I get around to photographing and writing descriptions and all that jazz)

Giveaway: I Love Indie Gift Box!

I discovered Indie Gift Box a little over a month ago.  I was so excited to buy one but they had already sold out for the month.  I waited until the beginning of this month and then I purchased my first Indie Gift Box.  I anxiously awaited its arrival, and I got it today!  For those of you who have unfortunately not known the joys of Indie Gift Box, it's a box full of handmade goodies from artists.  You buy one for just $25 and you get to know the theme, but what's in it is a surprise until it arrives.  It's full of lovely handcrafted items.  It also has lots of great discount codes for shop purchases.  It's definitely worth way more than $25.  I won't tell exactly what was in it until they reveal the contents on their blog, because not everyone has received theirs yet and I don't want to spoil the surprise.  I do however want to share some of the loveliness with one of you wonderful readers.  So here's a tiny glimpse of the contents.  The winner will receive three surprise items as well as all of the business cards with coupon codes.  The codes do expire at the end of December so this giveaway will only last for one week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post and Giveaway

Hey everyone, I'm over at Lulu and Sweet Pea today giving away some of my handmade jewelry.  Go enter to win a bracelet and a ring and a month of free ad space on her blog, and read my guest post about how I started making jewelry.

You could win a ring like this.

I Made These Patterns for You

I just learned how to make tileable patterns in Photoshop from Pugly Pixel.  If you aren't familiar with Pugly Pixel and you are at all interested in design, you should definitely check them out.  The website has lots of helpful tutorials as well as tons of freebies.  I made a whole bunch of patterns yesterday, so I thought that I would share them with everyone.  The fleur de lis and leaf are custom shapes in Photoshop.  The envelope and washi tape are from Pugly Pixel.  To download all six patterns for free, go here.  If you don't want to download all of them, click here.  Click on whichever pattern you want to download and then you can download it.  You don't need to credit me for anything you use these patterns for.  If you would like to donate money to me for the patterns, you can, but please don't unless you really want to.

Here are little strips of each pattern.  They're super cute and I want you to enjoy them.

We All Scream for Egg Nog

I meant to post a fashion post today, but I accidentally left my camera at home with all of the pictures on it and I'm staying at G's until I can eat all solid foods again.  (I will post the fashion post next Friday.)  I can eat pasta now which is fantastic, because I love pasta.  Anyway, I had to eat a lot of soft foods while I was recovering, including a lot of ice cream. 

Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk and Dublin Mudslide are both delicious.  Oatmeal Cookie Chunk is pretty self-explanatory.  Dublin Mudslide is a mix of chocolatey coffee-y goodness. It has Irish cream liquer flavored ice cream, chocolate chocolate chip cookie pieces, and fudge swirls.  It is also my new favorite.

The one that I am super duper excited to tell people about is Safeway brand Egg Nog ice cream.  It's a limited edition flavor and it tastes just like egg nog.  It's a softer ice cream which adds to the egg nogginess of it.  And it's under $4 for a gallon, so that's really awesome.

So if you're crazy like me and like to eat ice cream when the weather is cold, you just had mouth surgery and have to eat soft food, or you're a lucky duck who lives someplace warm, give these flavors a try next time you want some ice cream.

Etsy Interview: Neil from Art by Neil Slorance

I "met" this guy through one of my blog friends on Twitter and he is awesome so I interviewed him about his Etsy shop, which you should all check out.

This is tied for my favorite thing in his shop. Poor sad robot : (
I just want to hug it and make it all better.

 

It is tied with this. I do love robots : )



It is also tied with this.
 

 
1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Hey! My name's Neil Slorance, I'm an illustrator from Glasgow in Scotland. I'm 25 and have a pet tortoise.

2. Tell me a little bit about your shop.
 

My etsy shop is where I put up my prints, pictures and other bits and bobs. I set it up about 2 years ago and so far it's been ticking over nicely.

3. How long have you been making art?

 

Since I could hold a crayon really. I spent most of my school days doodling in jotters and making wee comics about superheroes I'd make up. I really wanted to be an artist although I stopped for a good while in my teens while I was pursuing music but got back into it around the age of 19/20.
 

4. How long have you been selling art?

 

I started selling about 5 years ago, I remember I took my painting to a market stall in a library. I remember feeling totally chuffed when I sold my first painting, I guess because I wanted to be an artist when I was a kid and this was me taking my first step.

5. Why did you start making art?

 

I guess everyone starts making art as a kid and then as we grow up for whatever reasons some of us stop. I've kept going mainly because it's the best way I've found to communicate my ideas and thoughts, and where as I'm not a great talker and I stumble on words my pictures have given me a voice.

6. What inspires your art the most?

 

Life? Any part of life I feel strongly enough to make a picture about. Aside from that just when I get excited about something e.g I've been playing a lot of mario so I made a mario picture.

7. What advice do you have for new Etsy sellers?

Try and have a wide range of products, especially little things, they are your bread and butter. 

 

8. What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

 

Don't be afraid to show your work, even the stuff you're not proud of.

neilslorance.com
flickr.com/photos/osm_art
twitter.com/osmart

So be sure to check out all of Neil Slorance's stuff. If nothing else, definitely visit the shop and his Flickr stream.  He draws so many amazing things!

And definitely leave me a comment letting me know if you have an Etsy shop and would like me to interview you.

Where to Shop in Seattle: Wish

How cool is their sign?!
(photo courtesy of Wish)

When I first saw the sign, I had to go in.  The windows displayed cute outfits that were just my style.  I had an hour to kill before catching my bus to go to the dentist and I spent it in Wish boutique.  Wish is a cute little shop located at 4419 Wallingford Ave N. in Seattle.  I immediately fell in love with the decor, the clothes, the jewelry, and most of all the hats and I knew that I had to share it with everyone I could.  My camera was away for repairs that day, but I talked to the owner and told her that I'm a blogger and that I would love to come back and take some pictures.  I really wanted to share her shop on my blog.  She was such a nice lady and said that would be great.  I tried on some jeans (unsuccessfully but I have such a hard time finding jeans.  I bought an adorable hat that fits my style perfectly.  I was looking at the jewelry and the owner told me that it is handmade by local artists.  That's when I told her that I actually make jewelry and gave her my business card so she could look at it.  I told her I would bring in some of the newer stuff for her to look at on my next day off.  She was very friendly and we talked for quite a while.  Before I knew it, I had just about killed the hour and had to go catch my bus, but not before purchasing a cute robot ring.

On Tuesday I had my wisdom teeth taken out.  Which meant another trip to the dentist.  Which meant another trip to Wish with another hour to kill before catching my bus.  I came prepared this time, with my newly repaired camera and a bag of all of my jewelry, both new and old.  I took pictures of the shop while the owner looked at my jewelry.  It was good that I brought it all with me, because for some reason there was a fluke and she wasn't able to look at my Etsy shop without creating an account, so she hadn't seen it yet.  Imagine my excitement when she said that she would keep four of my necklaces there on consignment!  My biggest goal for my jewelry business was to have some of my jewelry for sale in an actual shop and not just online and she helped me achieve it :)  I had a permanent smile on my face after that.  It lasted until my surgery because I had to open wide so they could use the sharp things in my mouth to cut my wisdom teeth out.  I was really happy and had to share the news with everyone I know.  I also had to share this lovely shop.  If any of you live in Seattle or are planning to visit Seattle, it would be a great place to visit.  And did I mention the amazing prices?!  We all know that I love a good deal.  My hat and my robot ring were each less than $20, and they weren't even on sale.  They were both really well made too.  The robot ring is really cool, because it's made from the nice kind of metal that doesn't make your skin change colors, but it's also adjustable!  Many of the rings at Wish are adjustable, which I really appreciate.

And now for the part you've really been waiting for: the pictures!  All of these photos were taken by me at Wish on Tuesday.

Who doesn't need a new scarf or two for Fall?!

Look at the lovely decor!

These two dresses are on display in the window, and look at all those fedoras : )

I love every single part of this outfit.

This is the perfect outfit for Fall.

Bird necklaces always hold a special place in my heart, and I love the detail on these two.

So many wonderful hats!  The one on top in the center is like the one I bought.

Cute elephant and camera necklaces.

I adore the displays and the decor, and obviously the jewelry too.

How cute is this bicycle jewelry? I can hear all of you Seattle people drooling.

I love this dress! I also love the lace topped one behind the leather jackets.

So what are you waiting for?!  Go to Wish and buy some fall clothes.  You know you want to.

Achieving my Goals

I achieved one of my goals for my Honeybee Alley shop today, which was to get some of my jewelry in a real shop.  Four of my necklaces are now available for purchase at a lovely little shop called Wish.  I'll be writing about the shop and sharing pictures soon, because I seriously love that place.  The owner is the sweetest lady.  I also got all of my wisdom teeth removed today and my face is still numb, so I'm dribbling ice cream down my chin.

And in case you were wondering, these are the four necklaces: