097. Melting

The temperatures are still creeping up out here. I'm not sure if I like being reminded that I moved out of the swamp and into a desert. The hard ground and dirt has been bleached almost white by the sun and walking outside right after you wake up it simply blinding. Quite the wake up call but not helpful when you already had enough trouble keeping your eyes open in the first place. :P Car seat belt buckles can burn and scar you in this kind of heat. Not something I'm looking forward to, lol. I grabbed an ice cream sandwich at the corner store earlier and tried so hard to scarf it down before it completely melted on me. Yeah... that mission was by no means accomplished. There were many casualties. Most of them involved my digits, ha ha. I also tried to grab some Hostess little cupcakes. I thought they were vanilla and I was partially correct. They had orange frosting that I was not expecting at all. Next time I know to read my food better. XD

I had quite to-do list set out for myself today, mostly to finish up all the little projects that I've been working on for the past week. I'm staring at the list right now and all I have to say about that is: /sigh. There's a reason why those were unfinished. It's really weird how the simplest sounding tasks can be so tedious and time-consuming. On top of that, I had a few Etsy orders come in so that was nice to take a break and prep those for shipping out tomorrow. I really thought that Father's Day was coming up this weekend and was sadly mistaken. At least I can put off planning something for another week. XD Man, that sounds bad. I shall snag a few pictures of the cards that I've been working on and post them tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow... our Stampin' Up goodies should be arriving! I hope they arrive earlier in the day, but from what I've seen happen with the delivery service, we're usually at the end of the list. :( I was hoping to play with our new toys tomorrow before we went and visited a former student. She is an amazing little girl who's life expectancy was two years old and she's heading onto kindergarten this coming school year. What a trooper. We may even dress up a little to have "high tea time". We have so many goodies to give her. They have already given her her class/art work from this past school year, a yearbook, two craft kits that we did in class while she was gone, and cards I think. Tomorrow we're gearing up to give her a vase that has a Japanese fighting fish aka Beta fish inside and a peace lily on top. What a fun dichotomy, yes? It's a beautiful, smaller than the other, crown tail? I forget the exact name, but he's mostly blue with streaks and spots of teal, green, and red on his spiky-shredded looking tails and fins. There's also the origami crane mobile that we made for her in purple, green, gold, and red. I have no idea why I didn't snag any pictures today. Tomorrow is already jammed packed of fun stuff to do and now I have to scramble to make sure I take photos of it all.

To make up for that, here's a video of one of my recent YouTube artist obsessions, Tyler Ward:

Well, that's it from me today! Hope you enjoy and how you enter in my little 100th post giveaway that's happening/ starting this Thursday! <3

096. Recovering

Sorry if today is a little late. Blogger is having a bit of a server problem apparently. /frown.

Apparently, my lack of sleep caught up with me last night. I was pretty passed out for most of today, which I suppose isn't that bad of a thing. My baby brother had his high school graduation ceremony last night and I'm very proud of him. We decided against me flying back for it and instead coming out for an extended stay to hang out more would be a better use of airfare, so I can't wait to take him out and get him something when I go back to visit.

Had a little chat with my mom earlier and found out that she was indeed able to make it to watch my brother graduate at the last moment, I'm really grateful for that too. I'm so excited and trying to make plans with friends across the state for when I get there. It may include some road tripping to the Keys/ Tampa/ Orlando, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. :P

I'm determined to make the most/ best out of this trip because who knows when I'll be coming back next. As much as I enjoy just hanging out around the house, I no longer feel that it's acceptable when there are so many other opportunities to take advantage of. It's time to make some memorable memories! Lol. I'm not all that into partying or clubbing or whatever kids do nowdays (XD), but I wouldn't mind it with the right group of people to make it one hilarious night. I'm sure everything possible will go wrong, but being in good company makes those situations a thousand times better.

It was pretty hot out today. Even in the evening, the temperature was 105, but only felt like 99. Only. Psh. I do, however, appreciate the concept of dry heat. It feels like a blow dryer and I find it kinda toasty. I'm being teased about my trip back to Florida with how muggy it always is and how I'm going to feel like I'm drowning the moment I get off the plane. Well, I always have felt like I was drowning with all the humidity and have always been painfully aware of how gross it makes you feel. But I know my eyes and nose are going to appreciate having moisture again. The rest of me is just going to have to deal. Because, you know, I can control things like the atmosphere and weather if my body didn't feel like putting up with the current conditions. :P

I haven't thought of much else besides trying to get back into my game and re-realizing how my laptop's limitations helped cause me to go on a hiatus a few months back. It's incredibly frustration because playing a slide show is not fun at all. Especially when death and stuff is involved. All of that lead me back to researching the parts to build my own desktop computer. I love being a nerd-dork like that. It's really fun and funny. I'm wracking my brains trying to understand the jargon (I feel I only have a slightly above average knowledge/ experience with technology and gaming) but it's getting there.

I was more trying to finish compiling the components list so that I could start figuring out a budget to afford it piece by piece. I still feel that it's an impressive machine and more than perfect for what I'll expect it to do. Technology abuse, here we come! I'll be able to play all the games, listen to all the music, watch all the videos, and run all the other programs all I want and at the same time! Ugh! I can't wait. I have little to no patience with this sorta thing. Lol. It's like waving what shoes, purses, and designer jeans are to some girls. And maybe chocolate... mmm, chocolate. Lol. What was I talking about again?

Hm, what was a lowpoint for me today? Oh! My resentment of Walmart grew a couple points. I don't like advocating/ supporting such a behemoth, especially with all the reports of how they may not be treating their employees very well, but I can't help but to gawk and take advantage of the sales that they have sometimes. :( Well, silly Waller has yet another exclusive Provocraft product besides the recent black Cricut Expression and Cricut Create machines (which look pretty cool, I have to admit). They apparently have started to launch a line of "Cricute Lite" cartridges!

They are a bit on the pricier side for a "light" cart at $39.99. It there are about 20 different themes and only a few more images than what is on the typical light carts called "Cricut Solutions" which are about... $25? Some of the regular cartridges can be found for $45-50, so idk why the Waller ones are so pricey. Ugh, of course they have a cat-themed one. *glares* I'm not sure who I'm glaring at exactly, so we'll just go with the concept of Walmart, lol.

There has not been a formal announcement made by Provocraft about it yet, but some vigilant crafters have spotted them at only some of their local stores. I don't know how I feel trying to hunt down discounted carts that are exclusive to that store... Sigh. That really is a downer for the crafty part of me. Aw, why didn't I mention it first? Now I'm all bummed. Ha ha.

To brighten things up a bit, here's a nice collaboration between pianist David Sides and singing group, ILLumeci. It's a beautiful song from Leona Lewis called "My Hands" that I haven't heard before and I think they did an amazing job covering it. I encourage you to check out more videos from both artists!

That's all from me today! Until tomorrow, <3

095. Happy Dance

Well, my first huge assessment is over and done with. Now to anxiously twiddle my thumbs for the next, oh... four to six weeks? Yep, that's how long it takes to get my pass/ fail back. Good stuff, eh? It's lovely that we ran on virtually no sleep and got up about 5:20am for a check-in of 8am. We even got there an hour sooner than expected. To top that off, it was already reaching well into the 90s. Friggin' desert and its heat, lol. I believe we hit the century mark last Friday. Can you believe that?!

Some better news is that I got my teaching substitute certificate in the mail today! I can officially be a substitute teacher in the state of Arizona! Hooray!! *happy dance* That's another step closer to securing my own classroom by the end of the year! It's one step closer to becoming the best me that I can be! I totally did not mean for that to be such a lame rhyme, lol.

Am I running on caffeine with a hint of willpower? Why yes, yes I am. XD

To put the icing on the cake, I got an email confirmation of our main order from Stampin' Up being shipped out yesterday! It should get here on Tuesday and we can't wait! *more happy dancing*

I don't know if I can take any more excitement. Actually, I'm pretty sure I can't take any more without risking some stress-induced blood vessel bursting. Oh wait! I'm finally back full force in WoW. I'm sure there's a select audience out there that will appreciate that. :D

Well, that's all from me today! Until tomorrow, <3

094. Hearfelt

I am all for having heart to heart talks. They can be about something so profound as the purpose of your life or leave you feeling so profound even if it was about nothing but had with the right person. Sometimes they leave you feeling like the weight of the world was lifted off your shoulders when you weren't even aware that you were carrying that burden. Other times, they leave you with more questions than you started out asking. Either way, it's always a step in the right direction, even if it doesn't go exactly the way you had hoped for. That leads to the philosophy of Hope for the best- Expect the worst.

That is rule that I need to be more proactive about applying. There are a ton of things I need to be assertive about. I have let myself become caught up in thinking that just because I started some wheels turning, that it suddenly allows me to be complacent with every other aspect of my life. Yes, finding a wheel and starting it up on my own is a huge step in the right direction for me, but that does not earn me the right to sit back and be a pleased as punch about it. No, I've come too far to let that satisfy me. This is more of a pep talk to myself, but I'm sure you can relate in your own way because it's the human condition to want more. Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs, right? I want to reach the peak of self-actualization in my lifetime. I need to stop being safe and somewhat satisfied with the middle ground of wanting to be accepted and included. I need to master feeling confident and loving myself even after I put myself on the line or out on a limb for others. I see people everyday who can do that exceptionally well and to them, that balance is normal. I want to do that. I can do that.

I have great people around me that genuinely care about me. I need to take the faith that they have in me and put it towards producing something that is really worth those honors. And I need to maintain it there. I am not seeking invincibility or perfection, but excellence. I can no longer accept moments of courage, kindness, patience, or clarity. They must be a constant state of existence and I should accept and expect no less of myself. No more of this setting the bar abysmally low so that doing nothing is still passing. I am better than that. I have more potential than that and it's time to unleash it. To set it free and embrace it. No more should I drown in my own doubts or strive to be my own worst critic. I should be one of my top cheerleaders.

I see it, I want it, I shall have it. No matter what it takes and how hard the journey will be. Even if my life is cut drastically short, I will die knowing that I was on my way to achieving and living as the best possible me. I've have had more than enough time to grow comfortable with the strides that I have made, it's past time to stop being comfortable and relish the moments and opportunities around me. I shall continue my mission to take nothing for granted, to show my infinite gratitude in words and actions, and to never forget where I came from. The best way I can honor memories is to better myself and pay it forward. I will make everyone who has been a positive influence in my life, prouder than ever. This is my promise to them and myself.

I hope you can make a similar promise to yourself and/or (a) loved one(s). There is always a way to  break away from just going through life/ the monotony/ the hopelessness/ the ignorance. Always has and always will be. Until tomorrow and the next step, <3

093. My Brain Hurts

I'm stating the obvious here by saying that I am really bad at sitting still and studying.

I'll constantly get up to either grab a snack, make entire meals for myself, listen to music (but end up flipping through songs), having videos/ tv playing in the background for white noise (but I'll end up avidly watching it even if I've seen the program a million times before), checking in on the people around me to see what they're up to, or becoming fixated on some craft brainstorm and having to jot down all the ideas. It's just a really bad and sad sight.

I've never really had a designated time and space to study as a kid, so you'd think I'd take full advantage of a desk-like area and the peace and quiet I can find now. Unfortunately, it seems to drive me up a wall and I have no clue how to study properly. It's really quite amazing how I've managed to ever passed anything in my life.

It reminds me of the little sad face icon you can find on the internet with that caption that reads: "I can't brain today. I have the dumb." That pretty much sums up my afternoon today. Well, it probably summarizes how I spend 80% of my waking hours. :P I enjoy making up very relative and non-scientifically tested (let alone proven) statistics. What's that other quote? "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Man, that was an interesting class to take my senior year of high school.

The good news is that in between all of my procrastination and distractions, I somehow managed to read half of my text book! Hooray! I decided it was getting late enough that I could reach a good stopping point and finish the rest tomorrow. Yum. So, no pictures or crafting today for me. :(

To make up for that, here's one of my recently favorite'ed videos from YouTube!

The Beatbox Hitman beatboxes to Lady Gaga's "Alejandro". Mmm... that's quite the yummy name to say, lol. He's great and does pretty awesome collaborations. After listening to his version of the song, hearing it any other way just seems lacking. He can be such a goof too- as you can see by the introduction and if you keep watching until the very end.

In vaguely bad news, our goodies from Stampin' Up have yet to be shipped. It's really understandable given how everyone involved in probably scrambling to snag all of the items that are retiring at the end of the month. Quite a bit of it has already sold out! We did snag one retiring hostess-exclusive stamp set, a few packs of the current In-Color cardstock at half price, a set of the In-Color markers, and one of the stamp sets that I personally got to make backgrounds. Nothing like sales and discontinuations to make you scramble. I cannot wait to show you what I come up with. You know, once it actually ships, arrives, I plot, I actually make something, and take a picture of it... Details, details. :P

That's enough out of me for today! ^_~ Until tomorrow, <3

092. It's Decided

Today was full of mulling over decisions.

I applied for my substitute teaching certification today, so fingers crosses that that will come back soon. I was debating putting my shop on hiatus during my stay with my family in July, but in lieu of my bracelet(s) being featured on other websites, I've decided not to take custom orders instead. I'm trying to cut down on what I'm taking because of all the killer fees that may ensue, so I unfortunately cannot ship all my crafting supplies back and forth with me. I may be moving/ shifting soon so that sets me into a mild panic about gathering up all my things again, but there are so many things to discuss with others that I'm going to do my best not to stress out over until the decision is made (not by me). Hm. I guess not much was actually decided on today besides what needs to be decided upon. ... Decided upon or on? Hm... not sure about that one either. Darn, I'm not very good at this. Lol.

I decided to try to give my brain a break by making a few cards. I only ended up making two because I kept tweaking my ideas.

This is the first. 

I'm actually not all that crazy about it. However, I love that handy and cute corner punch. I need to get me some of those!

This is the second one. 

I'm pretty sure I got the layout idea from designs I've seen around the internet. I love the framed leaf the most. It's from my newest cartridge, "Lyrical Letters". The sentiments and images are what I like the most. Go figure, there are seven fonts and I like the pictures.

This is actually from one of the sets of cards I made last night for friends. 

I can't wait to give it to them and I love the colors on this one. I would post a shot of the other set, but with the two here, they would definitely know who they are. :P Sigh, I really need to practice mixing mediums and techniques. Well, joining up with Stampin' Up should definitely help that! I can't wait to do more with them.

Oh! I just remembered the other decision that I actually made today! For my 100th blog post (which at the rate of being daily thing, will be Thursday, June 10th!) I shall be doing a little giveaway!

Who: Me...

What: 100th Daily Blog Post Giveaway!

When: Thursday, June 10th until 11:59pm Arizona Time- Monday, June 14th

Where: On my 100th Blog post

Why: To celebrate and have a chance at winning your choice of a handmade set of stationery or customized friendship bracelet!

How: Leave a comment with a way for me to contact you, which prize you would prefer, and (optionally) your favorite rant or post that I've made.

A winner will be randomly chosen, probably by the SO choosing a number from a bag, the next day. So, good luck and thank you so much for reading and stopping by my blog when you can! Thank goodness I remembered that now, lol. Well, that's all from me today. Until tomorrow! <3

091. Off-Kilter

Earlier, the SO teased me about swaying around and my response was, "Oh good, so it isn't just me feeling like the world is spinning. I'm actually doing it."

Yeah, it's just one of those days. I'm kind of whirling while sitting in my seat right now, even my fingers are struggling to stay straight. I woke up early to grab some extra adhesive before the workshop and was starting on a bad allergy attack. So I took some antihistamine but tried to counter the drowsiness with downing a Mountain Dew when we got back. Not the best plan, I'm sure. My body and equilibrium is shot.

I almost don't want to really talk about the Stampin' Up workshop we attended after the damage we did. We did not expect to, but may have gotten carried away with grabbing a significant amount of our own basics. Plus, we wanted to take advantage of the fact that they are about to renew their merchandise in about a month. The list of colors, stamp sets, and other products that are going away for possibly forever was released early this morning. Our Senior Demonstrator was super nice and a good teacher, in my opinion (imo) and she had a new member of her team there to show us our craft project. It was so much more than I expected and FMIL and I were pleasantly pleased. We were the only ones that made it to the event today, but that was nice because we got all the attention, guidance, and supplies all to ourselves. Even stayed an extra two hours pouring over techniques and products. Our (yes, we've decided to adopt her as our own personal guide!) demonstrator used to volunteer at a local animal shelter, so she had quite a few cats and two dogs. They were all gorgeous and incredibly sweet. Good thing we're pet people because we adored the affection and didn't mind the fur everywhere. Not like we didn't already come bearing some from the animals here at home, lol.

Our goodies should arrive within the week, so I'll definitely be showcasing my... haul when the time comes. Until then, I can show you the two cards we made and the craft project! I apologize in advanced for Blogger being weird and auto-rotating my pictures the wrong way. /frown.

Card #1

with paper from Raspberry Lemonade and Razzle Raspberry ribbon on Crushed Curry cardstock.

A close-up

of the "Many Thanks" from the Four Square stamp set in Crushed Curry. Both are current "In-Colors" that will be retiring at the end of June.

Sideways view

of the coordinating envelopes (In Whisper White, I believe) that we stamped.

Card #2,

also with the unfortunate sideways view. Same supplies. Patterned paper from the Raspberry Lemonade are varied and have different designs on each side. The flower stamp and birthday sentiment are from the Upsy Daisy stamp set. 

"Life happens. Love helps." 

I think I'm going completely crazy because I can't seem to find this stamp in the current catalog. Maybe it's from a retired set...

"Birthday Celebrations" is a apart of the Upsy Daisy stamp set.

The coordinating envelopes we stamped. 

Oh, just to clarify, my projects are the ones on the left or on the top. 

Close-up of one envelope. FMIL got creative with combining stamps. Love the completed images.

 Our cute craft projects! 

Little notepad covers we made and stamped, complete with mini gel pen holders!

Back view.

Mine has quite the funky vibe to it.

Inside view. 

Little memo pad chunked off of a bigger pad found in the dollar bins (along with the packs of gel pens!) at Target. So incredibly ingenious and cute with the pre-printed pattern.

Please excuse my inky hand. I went a little nuts at home.

I am so satisfied with the entire experience. We'll be set for a while stamp-wise, but I still can't wait to come back and see all the new stuff on being released to the public on July 1st! I think we may get our new complimentary catalogs a week before we're allowed to order! How suspenseful and exciting. We walked away with these fun projects, a free little stamp (we chose different ones that said "Created for you", which was right along the lines of one set I was eyeballing to get today!), a free little stamp ink pad called a Stampin' Spot (a great alternative to the full-size pads for being a little frugal or wary of color choices), the free catalogs in the future, free admission to future classes, various little samples of papers and ribbon, and what ended up being two free stamp sets with our orders. I cannot wait to show you it all. 

Well, I hope you have a great day and I'll see you here tomorrow! <3