Ch,Ch,ch,changes....

Good Morning All!

It is Sunday morning, and for once, I am relatively healthy, not working, and have no plans or houseguests. At least for this morning... I wanted to take the time to share some updates, and a couple things I've had under my hat for a few weeks.

1) We are NOT moving to Arvada. We have talked to a lot of you about our plans and most of those plans have changed. We started doing all the research, trying to figure the where, the why, the when and we really got sketched on the whole "house" thing. (more to come on this in a second...) So we have decided to move to a loft/condo in the city. Whether we buy or lease remains to be seen, but it is likely that we will lease for a while longer.

2) I am starting school. I know I've said this before, but the difference this time is that I actually WANT to go. I've decided not to get a degree in graphic design. I've been doing it for 10 years and frankly, I am a little burnt out. So, I'm going to study Event managment. (Please do not ask me any specifics about my degree program... My appt. with admissions is next week, so I just don't know anything else yet.)

3) I'm starting my own Event Planning business. Not tomorrow, not next week....but slowly over the next year, I'm going to be taking all the steps to get myself set up. There is more to come on this, but I'm going to keep it under my hat for now. Just stay tuned for the launch of the website, www.urbanityeventdesign.com.

4) I'm having a "Going Green Sale", probably in the next month or so. We are making a HUGE effort to shrink our "eco-footprint" with our new lifestyle change, so I will be going through everything and deciding what gets stored for my business (i.e. party decor, lights, etc.) and what we can afford to keep, and everything else is getting sold. So, I'll be posting flyer pretty soon, there will likely be a bunch of everything, furniture, kitchen items, books, clothes, accessories etc. More to come on that...

If you are curious about your eco-footprint and what you can do to change it, check out this website, www.myfootprint.org

I also recommend this book , 1,001 ways to Save The Earth. It has a lot of helpful bite size ideas for improving your life and reducing your impact on the planet.

And back to the house situation... I hate to sound trite, but I really feel like I'm experiencing a paradigm shift as far as where our lives were going. Tim has always been very conscious of his impact on the environment and often brags that he has no car and works from home, thereby shrinking his footprint significantly. I have always had an interest in the environment, all my charity donations during my time in the AF were always to the research of energy, or for saving endangered animals etc. I guess I thought that by doing that, it allowed me to keep on living the way I always had, without experience any real anxiety about what state our planet was in.

But, like many people in the U.S., I'm understanding more and more that my life and the fuel that I use to live are really the only I thing I can control. And if we continue to live in our big house, using all this energy, and driving our car all over all the time, eventually it is going to catch up with us (the collective "us"). Anyway, long story short, we have decided to wait to buy a home until we can afford to do things the way we'd like. Also, me going to school for the next few years, sort of ties us to the city and instead making a huge triangle when I drive (from home, waaaaay up to work, and then waaaaay down to school) we decided to take advantage of our situation, live in the city (we've always wanted to) and take a stab at living life on a smaller scale. I'll let you know how the experiment is going from time to time.

That's all for now,
~e

For Your Information... * VENT POST *

If, in the future, any of you have the privilege of working with a designer of any kind, I want you to understand something. Creative people are a dime a dozen. Everyone thinks they have great ideas, and some of you probably do.... A designer is MORE than just a creative person. We have the unique ability to take the ideas and CREATE things with them. Web pages, marketing, ads, practically everything you see around you. Everything you look at, down to the print on your t-shirt or the print on your toilet paper...somewhere a designer made that.

When you work with a designer, remember that in order to make your product (be it website, business card or interior decor) we employ a design aesthetic that is honed throughout years of experience. We don't make a million choices a day based on a whim... We make those choices base on carefully crafted skills that are unique to our job. It may not be the Mona Lisa, and it may not be the Sistine Chapel, but it is art nevertheless, and should be acknowledged as such.

Too put it plainly, I am TIRED of having my hours of work critiqued by pretentious boobs with "creative" criticisms such as, "I don't get it..." and "Why don't we add a BIG BOW, that would really be something...." or back in my Air Force days, " I think what this poster needs is a big American Flag and an Eagle!". Let the artists do what they do best! And if you REALLY don't like something... try to be specific. And above all, be sensitive. We're not machines that churn out endless choices for you to insult at random. There are some crappy designers our there who warrant insult, but most of us are just trying to create something beautiful... that hasn't already been seen a million times. Let us make you look good, stop trying to BE the designer. Tell us what you want, and let us do our job.

* VENT FINISHED *

Daisy and the first flower of Spring

 

Walking Dead...

timerinsick
Originally uploaded by villanovababy.

Despite my grave illness yesterday, I propped myself up with medication long enough to go downtown to watch the St. Patty's Day parade. It was a major disappointment. They really should have let me plan it... There was only one float and it was barely passable.... My old hometown throws a better parade than that. Anyway, afterwards we went and got brunch at Stuebens, which lifted my mood, but it wasn't enough to keep me from collapsing with exhaustion when I got home. I'm so ready to not be sick anymore... and this is only day 3. BLEH.......

the plague

all over tiredness
slightly metallic sick breath
stomach so sour (too many cough drops)
and speaking of coughs
that tickler
has now become a whoop
a pointless painful whoop
weak
bored
headachingness
throat swollen
blargh
stupid virus
I'm going to the St. Patties day parade if it kills me.
and it probably will.

To In-fittiness and beyond....

 


I just got back from a session with my new personal trainer. His name is Matt (also known as Mercury Matt, amateur pro-wrestler and ex-marine) and he is a HOOT. When I decided to go see a personal trainer it was pretty much out of desperation. I'm not an athletic girl. I like rock climbing (sometimes) and hiking (as long as there aren't too many hills) and I like swimming (actually, it's more like flailing about in the water pretending like I can swim and freaking out if I get so deep that I can't touch the bottom)and sometimes I like biking (but not too far...). When it comes to working out" on a regular basis, I'm afraid that I have NO motivation to do so.

I hate gyms... They always smell funny, there's this waiting for a machine business, and a huge room full of people sweating really grosses me out. All the same, now that I am out of the Air Force and not be forced to work out on a regular basis, I've found that I'm getting soft and sloppy. Not to mention that I've had a slow creep of weight gain from around 128ish to 135ish. It's not much, but it's a testament to where I could be if I just ignored it.

So, since I have no one to work out with (Tim is not a "work out" guy... he likes to ride his bike, but I need more variety than that...) and my girlfriends are always busy, I decided to try the next best thing. A paid workout buddy with lots of expertise. The gym is literally a block from my house. It's small, and quiet, and private. When I do my cardio, I can do it by myself or maybe with one other person around. It is SUCH a nice change.

My trainer is a cool guy. When I started this deal, I was pretty sure that I wanted a woman trainer, but I am glad things worked out the way they did. I need some one to push me, REALLY PUSH ME, because I am a LAZY girl. I need someone who's going to give me shit if I crap out on something. And I need to do something different every time, I get so bored of doing the same work outs. It's cool that he's Ex-military too. There is an understanding of sorts between military people, and it's sort of like belonging to the same club...we already know all the secret handshakes.

So, the photo above contains the results of my fit test today. It says I've got a few pounds to lose to be "fit" and I need to gain some muscle. So, FYI, I'm hitting it hardcore for the next two months, 3 times a week with "Mercury Matt" and I'm gonna get my ass in shape. Wish me luck...

Here's to the coasties...

One of my fellow bloggers, Neilochka recently made a little trip through my hometown of Port Orford. He met everyone and got to hobknob with all the townfolk who knew us when. There has been a ton of reminiscing lately about Oregon for me... with my 10 year reunion coming up and all... and I just wanted to send a shout out to everyone back home. I miss you all... Karim, Carol, the whole Seaweed gang. :) And most of all Echo! I miss you tons and I can't wait until the future day when we meet up in P.O. with our kids, husbands and families and all have a bonfire at Hubbard's Creek.

Someday....

Daddy is sick...

Tim's got the plague. Well, actually a cold... but he's really miserable and achy. I've force fed him every kind of cold medicine and lozenge I could find. The bedroom is FULLY humidified. Hopefully he'll get better just in time for me to catch whatever ghastly disease he's managed to contract. In the mean time, the kitties are on watch...

Updates...

1) Work has been CRAZY busy. It's the high season for selling and proposals so I'm putting in lots of extra hours for sketches and whatnot. But, things are going well... It's great work if you can get it. We are moving in to our new offices in a few weeks, and then I will finally have a corner office of my own.

2) I'm working in the details for my 60's party invite website...expect more news on that any day now.

3) We met with our realtor, we are going to start looking at houses next month...

Things are busy not only for me, but for Tim as well. I've been trying to make an effort to stay in touch with everyone and I'm SO looking forward to spring and summer and lots of BBQ's and camping trips. The Cringe party was a lot of fun... I'm waiting for some folks to send me photos so I can share them. :)

More to come...

Have I mentioned how much I love my Mac?

Your photobooth slideshow on Flickr

I was trying to figure out my Iphoto thing today and came across this cool program that makes me look SCARY! That was the most fun I've had at work in weeks....