HP
I've asked for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for Christmas, which came out on DVD today!

Photos! Maren and I recently had a girl's weekend with some of our closest buddies, where we had the amazing Emily Steffen photograph us. Check out Emily's blog for photos.

Discipline

I got bored with updating my unemployment days. I've basically been doing a lot of networking, freelancing, and reconnecting with people. I love being able to plan my days according to how I'm feeling. For the most part I've been using my days productively, but have also been meeting with friends and aquaintences as well.

According to the Minnesota Workers Orientation that I attended on Monday, networking is how 80% of people find jobs. Only 10% find jobs through mega job sites like Monster.com, etc. So, I don't feel so bad that I'm intermitently meeting friends for coffee or dinner to chat. I'm getting ahead, and it has actually led me to a few freelance jobs, no matter how big or small the gig.

So, if you know of anyone who needs any sort of design done, give them my info, please.

On another note, I need to be more disciplined with other things than just finding a job and doing freelance. I would like to spend time in the word, as well as exercise regularly and eat healthier. Those things take more discipline and are easier for me to excuse from my regular routine.

Unemployment Days 11, 12, 13, 14

This week has been productive!

Accomplishments:
Networking with fellow design friends and other people as well
Freelancing for a couple of individuals
Ate an entire bag of cheetos single-handedly
Got first unemployment benefit
Helped out at Box of Love on mon.
Helped out with preschool at church on wed.
And tonight I am going to the midnight showing of New Moon!

BFF Weekend

Got to hang out with Becky, Kate, Jen and Maren all weekend! Spent friday evening at Jen's just chilling, talking, playing games.

Saturday morning got all dressed up for a photoshoot with Emily Steffen! We wore cute vintage dresses for part of it. Can't wait to get the photos back.

Went out to eat for a late lunch, headed back to Jen's to relax and watch The Proposal. Ordered pizza and played cards and relaxed a bit more. Stayed up late. Becky left early afternoon on sunday. The end.

Unemployment Day 10

Got up at 6:00 to get an early start to a busy day. Looked at new job listings.

Went grocery shopping.

Went to hair appointment with Hazel at Moxie salon.

Baked cake.

Packed for weekend.

Becky arrived to try on dresses for the photoshoot.

Finished making Trifle dessert.

Went to Jen's for a fun-filled weekend.


Unemployment Day 9

Got up at 6:30 and did some job search stuff.

Amber came over for brunch.

Worked on some details for BFF weekend, including games, prizes, outfits for the weekend. Went to a couple thriftstores to find prizes.

That evening I went over to Angies to make cards! Very fun.

Now Online!


Unemployment Day 8

Started the morning at 7 checking emails and looking ta jobs online. Had one response to my craigslisting about designing wedding invitations. Also am going to be designing at line of t-shirts, can't remember if I updated on that yet.

Went to the post office to ship a few things.

Stopped at a couple of thriftstores since it was Veteran's Day and they were having a 50% off sale. Found a new Supehero vintage puzzle for $1.69 and bought it in hopes of Doug actually getting into a puzzle! ha! I miss my puzzling buddies from STEM.

Went to Walmart for some necessities. Don't you just hate buying soap and toothpaste, etc.?

Got home and started preparing some fun things to do this weekend. Becky is coming up from Iowa this weekend! Becky, Kate, Maren and I are staying at Jens for the weekend. This is our annual BFF get-together and I'm super excited. Emily will be taking our photos on saturday, which means I finally get to do my vintage dress photoshoot! Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went through all of my storage bins, even in the storage closet down the hallway, went through all my clothing and even cupboards. I love getting plurging and i love shopping. I plan to head to Everyday People today to see if any of my "designer" clothing is worth any mooolah.

Started a sewing project around 8:30 and ran into a lot of problems with my old sewing machine. Those things make me go crazy! I got so frustrated that I called my mom not realizing it was already like 10 p.m! Sorry Mom! I eventually got it figured out and the stitches were looking good, so I sewed for a couple of hours. It felt good to finally sew again. The end.

Unemployment Day 7

Tuesday started around 7 am and similar to all of my unemployed days, by looking for jobs online. I worked on more Heads Twogether stuff in the morning. Did more unemployment paperwork, ick.

Met Doug in St. Paul to look at a house for rent but the guy never showed up. Came back home, baked some cookies and went to Dani's for dinner. She is an EXCELLENT cook! We had fun just sitting around chatting and looking at wedding photos. :)

Unemployment Day 6

Monday I got up around 7 and I spent all morning filling out unemployment stuff, signing up on job sites and looking for jobs. I even posted myself on craigslist - for invitation design. :)

I spent the afternoon doing Heads Twogether stuff and went over to Maren's to watch Heroes and eat pizza.

Sunday

I helped out with preschool at church, it's always a joy when Olive is there, she is such a hip little girl due to Lacey's fashion choices. It's adorable.

After church a dozen of us headed over to Woodbury to make shishkabobs (how do you spell that?) at Cynthia & Mike's place. It was a lot of fun to get together at a home instead of a restaurant. We should do pot lucks more often. We stayed until 3ish.

Took an afternoon nap. Made some guac and ate with chips, caught up on 30 Rock and the Office and went to bed.

Saturday

Saturday was a very fun day! Cynthia & Mike met Doug and I at Fat Nat's Diner (one of our fav places to eat) for brunch. Had some delicious almond blueberry pancakes.

Cynthia and I left the guys and went vintage dress shopping. Our goal was to find a cute 50's style dress for Cynthia. We got drinks at the Spyhouse before perusing the racks at Via's Vintage, BlackList Vintage, and Everyday People. Oh yes and we even stopped at a corner store that I don't remember the name of, but it had a ton of vintage clothing and accessories.

I took a nap when I got back from shopping, and then headed to Zimmerman with Maren to our friend Anna's baby shower. That was fun to see some of her family and celebrate the soon-t0-be-mother!

That's about it. Got home and went to bed. That is why it's 4:45 a.m. and I'm up already.

Unemployment Day 5

The fire alarm started sounded in the hallway right above our apartment door at 6:45 a.m. At first I wasn't sure what it was because it didn't sound the a bell, it was just a loud noise. I opened our door and realized it was the fire alarm and so Doug and I got out of bed, got dressed, rounded up the freaked out kitty, grabbed our bags (purse, and computer, and external hardrive) and went down. Our maintenance guy waved us back upstairs and said "False alarm" or something of the sort and we went back to bed until 7:30.

Had some leftover rice with milk, cinnamon and sugar heated up in a bowl for breakfast. A fav childhood breakfast. Looked at the job sites, not much listed for design jobs.

Called the flower shop to see if they had a chance to look at our website, left a message.

Photographed merch and started listing on etsy. Listed some earrings, rings, and necklaces. Blogged about the new merch on the Heads Twogether (HT) blog.

Got a call back from Laurel's Floral Shop & Boutique and set up a meeting to show them our HT products. They were mostly interested in our rings. Showered, got an invoice ready and went over to St.Paul to meet up with the ladies.

Drove around St.Paul looking for potential apartments, there are a lot of apartment on Randolph but none seem to have a parking lot.

Headed over to Kate's, she was still working (at home) so I got myself a snack and then Maren showed up. We chatted a bit and then read our books until Kate was done working. Then we went back to St.Paul and ate with Monica, Luke, Jackie and her friend. After eating and chatting for well over an hour we headed back to Kate's to watch Twilight. The end.

Unemployment Day 4

Arose at 7 a.m. to look for jobs and catch up on email/facebook.

Went to the dentist to get three fillings. It took two hours! Gah!

Came home and made some soup, since I'm not supposed to eat hard things with my new fillings.

Worked on Heads Twogether stuff, got some merch ready and took it to the Design Collective in Uptown Minneapolis. She is having a sale November 20-30 and Heads Twogether items will be 20% off. Go shop!

Was very tempted to get bubble tea at the Tea Garden next to the Design Collective, but thought better of it since I just had three cavaties filled. Bubble tea = pure sugar.

Went to a couple of thrifties to look for jewelry supplies. The Unique on County D is really great now that they remodeled it. They have a massive jewelry counter and I found some goods there. Savers was less impressive. I don't normally go there but have found some neat vintage jewelry there in the past. Didn't have any luck this time.

Finally went grocery shopping at Cub foods.

Started dinner and cleaned up the house a bit before Kate came over. Had a nice chicken, rice, veg meal with Kate and Doug. We even had some sparkling white grape juice! mmmm. It was my pop-substitute.

After dinner Kate and I visited Maren at Turnstyle, went to Marshalls to look for tights but only found Twilight books for Kate.

Watched a few episodes of some crazy show with Doug. The show was about this guy who goes around cities to try the best pig out restaurants in town and eats 7 lb. burgers, etc etc.

Unemployment Day 3

Wednesday turned out to be not as productive as the first two. I woke again at 7 a.m. and checked my e-mail and looked on job sites for new listings.

Worked on my office/craft area a bit more, got some things in order.

Met up with Steph, Stacie & Ian for lunch, hung around Stacies for a few hours just chatting, adoring the baby and watching some hilarious design shows.


Went to Target to get a baby gift for my friend Anna who is having her first baby in January!

Stopped by to visit my friend Amanda (we worked together at Target) to chat a bit before church.

This week is Missions Week at Oak Hills Church and we had the pleasure of having our Cambodian missionaries come speak lastnight. I had never heard their story, but it is an amazing one. I am glad I got a chance to hear it. The married couple grew up in Cambodia and experienced the killing fields but were lucky enough to survive. God had a calling on their lives and after becoming orphans as children and being raised in MN they went back to their home country to serve. If you want more details ask me.

Watched an episode of Glee before heading to bed.

Unemployment Day 2

Got up at 7 a.m. and made sugar cookies. Ate too many of them for breakfast.

Did more looking around for jobs.

Posted some neat necklaces on the etsy shop.

Spent like an hour putting the plastic over the large sliding glass doors to winterize them. Not fun.

Made fettucine alfredo from scratch (besides the noodles).

Went to the post office to mail a couple of packages.

Decided to completely rearrange workspace/office/craft area. Had to buy an extension telephone cord because my computer is too far away from the ONLY telephone outlet in the apartment. Go figure. Luckily the hardware store across the street sells them. It took me quite awhile to get everything situated where I wanted it because i moved everything around more than once. But now my office area is more practical.

Laid down because my back was hurting, fell asleep for about an hour. Doug came home so i made dinner, consisting of Aggkaka (egg dish), bacon, and a bottle of champagne from Stacie.

Watched 90's movie Can't Hardly Wait. Wow, that movie has like every actor/actress in it. Thought it was funny that Peter Facinelli was one of the lead characters because I only knew him as Carlisle in Twilight. haha.

End day 2.

Unemployment.

For those of you who are used to seeing me everyday at the office, you can read what I'm doing on my blog, now that I'm unemployed.

Monday, November 2nd
I got up around 7 a.m., which is when Doug gets up. I used to get up around 5:45 every morning so it was nice to sleep in.

Made a list of things to accomplish this week. I tackled the first item on my list: Apply for unemployment. Looked around online for jobs and found a couple of interesting ones to apply for. Also found a neat flower shop boutique advertising for handmade goods. I called the contact person and she is going to look at our website and get back to me.

I worked on a freelance project that I'm doing for a friend, which consists of designing a logo. I got stuck on that and am having a difficult time getting exactly what I want.

I paid the rent.

I paid the water bill.

I made a couple of appointments with friends.

Called Moxie to push my hair appointment back, in case I can't afford it.

Canceled our membership at the YMCA.

Did a little supply shopping for Heads Twogether.

Tidied up the apartment.

And lastly went to Maren's to watch Heroes. Which was a very not-so-great episode. Ugh.

Hopefully today will be more fulfilling. I'm going to make some sugar cookies and start on a new blog banner.

After weeks of suspense I found out that I did not get the job I applied for. So, my contract is up in two weeks. Anyone know of a fun design/art/craft job opening that pays the bills?

Catching Up.
I woke up to a snow-covered balcony. You can't blame the cat for not snoozing by the chilly window anymore.


Puz was at the window yesterday when it was nice and sunny.
Steph made a sign to cheer on her dad during the marathon last sunday. It was Bryan's 20th marathon, #1 and #20 run at the Twin Cities Marathon! Quite an accomplishment. I can't even say I've run one marathon.

Last saturday Maren and I participated in the Handmade Market, at a local coffeehouse. We made a decent number of sales per shopper. Met some fun , crafty gals, too.



That is all for now.

Handmade Market this saturday!
Here is a little blurb that was written by my old roomie for Vita.mn.

Steph & Andy are married!

Doug's baby sis got married last saturday. It was an exciting and fun day. The couple was so cute during the ceremony and fun to watch dance and sing karaoke at the reception.

So happy for them! Plus they moved to Richfield and are a lot closer in distance, so we'll get to see a lot more of them in the future.



On another note, I ran into my college friend Becky H. at the grocery store today. What a pleasant surprise. Running into familiar faces at unexpected times always makes my day.

Crafting

I just made like a bazillion necklaces for the handmade market, which is coming up October 3rd and is at the Beat Coffeehouse.

Here are some up my "upcycled" necklaces made from vintage parts.

Wedding Invites



One dream of mine is to have a business with Maren, designing invitations. We're already doing a pretty good job of building a portfolio. We just need more clients. So, if you need an invitation made, whether it be wedding, baby shower, graduation or birthday, we'd love to help.

Here is the weddining invitation I designed for my sister-in-law. They wanted something affordable, simple, and current. This 4x6 postcard was the perfect solution, the RSVP being online and a website with information about the wedding.

Alexandria

Doug and I went to visit his grandparents, Bob & Bea, in Alexandria last weekend. It was a very relaxing, entertaining, and food-filled weekend. It was nice to spend some time with just them, without other family around. They took us out on the pontoon on saturday, which is always fun. I'm sorry I didn't take any photos to share.

On our way out of town, back home, we stopped at an antique store. They have really great prices there! I'm sharing a photo of the beauties I found! I'll be making some fun necklaces and rings very soon....

Forgive me for not posting in like two months! Just made a new July banner. I'll try to post some more photos of past events soon.

xo

My birthday is a little over a week away, if you haven't decided what to buy me yet here are some options:

1. Bride Wars DVD

2. American Apparel Sash - black and gray polka dot (http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa0501.html)

3. Tights

4. The Fires of Gleannmara series by Linda Windsor (Deidre, Riona, Maire)


5. Vintage jewelry, specifically pendants

6. High power hair dryer

7. Long cotton tees in any color except yellow or orange

8. Money to buy a new digital SLR camera

9. peacoat hoodie - i've seen them at like Herbergers, Macys

10. Giftcards to my fav places like IKEA, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, H&M, Target

Mr. & Mrs. Keith Furzland!

My friend Anna, whom I've known since infancy, got married to a very nice young man last saturday, April 4th. It was a cute, intimate wedding and I'm overjoyed for the couple :)

Order a tee?

Maren and I decided to design a t-shirt to promote and support our dear friend, Brittany. She will be leaving this summer to be a missionary to Ukraine! The proceeds of this shirt will go towards her fundraising/support.

$20 for a shirt. The design is tentatively going to be printed in bright pink/magenta ink on a light colored long tee.

Contact me by saturday if you would like to order your size. We will probably print extras to sell later on at the luncheon, but just to be sure you get your size by pre-ordering ;)

Hawaii, here we come!

Don't be upset if Doug and I don't answer e-mails, or phone calls, we'll be back on the 22nd.

Cedar Rapids


A couple of weeks ago Maren, Kate, and I braved a winter storm to visit Alisa in Iowa. It was a lovely trip, one that was very overdue. She welcomed us into her little apartment and we had a girly weekend shopping, eating, and watching movies. Can't wait for you to visit us in MN, Alisa :)

Dena and her new hair. (done by Hazel @ moxie)


Douglas and his new face.






Sorry that it took so long to post these!

In News:
Lastnight Doug's younger sister, Steph, got engaged to her boyfriend Andy! Congratulations, we are very excited for the two of you :)

Ok. I'm back and better than before. Not really, but I did manage to put up February's banner in time, actually BEFORE February. February is actually not time for coke, because i'm supposed to be trying to look better in my bathing suit, since we'll be in Hawaii in March.

I'll post more later. I've got some other coke photos to share, as well as doug-beard-and-no-beard photos...

Just designed some cute mini business cards for my hairstylist friend, Amanda/Hazel. Interesting story - after graduating from Aveda she got hired at Moxie. Moxie salon already has a hairdresser named Amanda, so she got to pick a new name. She now styles by the name Hazel.

If you would like to get a great haircut/color she will be starting out on the floor next Tuesday. Book a slot with her!

Here is her new business card!

Some photos to represent my absence. I will try to be better this month at posting.