New Look + Handmade Items

So by now you've probably noticed the new blog header above, and logo to the right. I decided to start selling some of the items that I create while relaxing during the evenings which means I need a little earring card and a logo. (Which led to a whole bunch of things actually.)

But first up, the logo.
I have a vector file of vintage labels and found on that I liked. After changing the label part for Propriety with a twist in Jane Austen's handwriting, and the color to be more tiffany-blue/aqua, I was trying to get the logo to be squared just right. After taking the branches and skewing them, I laughed and thought it looked like the Cylon Raider toy on my desk.
And I couldn't change it back. A Cylon raider is the perfect twist to my proper little logo. Sold!

"You Can't Go Home Again," S1E5 is my favorite BSG episode.
Starbuck is the ultimate problem-solver.

So having a logo meant I needed to at the very least update the color of the blog header (but of course I couldn't just do that.) And the facebook page needed the logo / cover image, and the etsy shop needed logo and a banner for it. Oh, and instagram.

But Etsy. Banner, profile picture, and brief-brief-brief announcement/about. I'll worry about that on a weekend that I don't have a show. I have added the shop link above, under the header, and even added a product!

Might have to make a pair to keep for myself...

It's a start. (Not sold on the photo set up and need to work on my lighting. I'm so used to lighting paper, earrings are way different.)

With T painting his models every night, it's the perfect time for me to sit and craft, so that's what I've been doing. Waiting for a good hair day so I can model the necklaces that I've made. They're fancy!

Cheers,
ashley

Occurrences, Week of 2.7.14

Reading: Personal Velocity

Watching: More Dexter while working, and caught up on Downton Abbey, Sherlock & The Following. 

Listening: New 90s playlist plus the usual The Smiths station

Eating / Drinking: Surprisingly I made steaks for dinner! But that's about it- still baked oatmeals for breakfast and light snacks/lunches. Boring.

Learning: Last Friday night, T challenged me to learn the bass line for Otherside. I of course rose to the challenge and my fingers hurt- I haven't played bass in ages! It's funny that neither of us are big RHCP fans, but even I have to admit, it's a pretty good bass line.

Corresponding: Sent out a birthday card to my Grandma

Creating: Lots of jewelry!

Working: Had a show on Saturday so prepped for that, and created some new designs. 

Goals / Resolutions: Exercising 6 days a week! I feel a little slimmer but the scale isn't telling me it's true. Telling myself that while I'm weighing the same, i'm swapping chub for firm, so it's okay. Jeans are getting loose in the butt, might need to go shopping soon!

Cheers,
ashley 

Occurrences, Week of 1.31.14

Reading: Twenties Girl, finished it last night. Started off meh but I did enjoy it.

Watching: Finished seasons 8-12 of Law & Order SVU, Dexter (rewatching since the latest season is now on Netflix. We've been watching this show about Alaskan homesteading on netflix; it's pretty hardcore living off the land up there like they do.

Listening: Santigold and Chopin pandora stations with a little Depeche Mode thrown in for solo dance parties.

Eating / Drinking: not as much. Baked oatmeal for breakfast, chicken & rice dinners with loads of broccoli for dinner, grapes/apples/cheese sticks/chai lattes for snacks, and soups for lunch. Pretty boring but am determined to shed a few inches. Had a glass of wine with dinner the other night, splurge!

Domesticating: On Sunday I had nervous energy to get out so I ironed all my cloth napkins and reorganized the drawers of the sideboard. They look great! Plus, I pulled a few more things for the donation box.

Corresponding: Sent out a thank you note on Monday and a little Just Because note today.

Creating: Haven't done much other than crochet in the evenings.

Working: Completed the Jane Austen Centre project, and now working on wedding and party invitations. One of my dearest friends is getting married in May so I've started designing her wedding invitations. Also printing a wedding invitation, sxsw invitation, and pet sympathy cards.

Goals / Resolutions: Really determined to be healthier so I actually exercised every day this week (and woke up sore every morning). Wednesday was really rough with the cravings but somehow I made it through.

Keeps me on track!

My Favorite Instagram(s) of the Week:

Tea with Mom, back of the JAC cards, organized sideboard drawers, and working on wedding design for a dearest friend.

Have a good weekend!

Cheers,
ashley 

Tired of Feeling Chubs

Feeling.  That's what T doesn't understand- it doesn't matter if i don't look chubs, it matters if i feel chubs. So, sadly, Monday, January 27th starts a stricter lifestyle. We'll see how stabby I get. This is probably a bad time to start as I have 4 print jobs for inviting to complete but I'm sure if I just time my snacks right, it will be fine.

After finding some Ballet Fit-ish videos on you tube and checking out the weather report for next week, the fitness portion looks like this:
M: video #1
T: videos #3 and #4
W: video #6
Th: video #5
F: Zombies, Run! 2.5 miles + Ballet Beautiful Bridge Series
S: video #2
S: Zombies, Run! 2.5 miles + BB Bridge Series

Here are the videos. We'll see how they/I do.

The dressing room has been cleaned, floor thoroughly swept, free weights found and dusted off, and I am ready for Monday.

I also made little daily health trackers, to make note of meals, water intake, fitness activities, whether I did stretching, weight and waist measurements. Because I'm crazy. If you want a copy (they print 4 cards / 8.5x11 sheet) leave a comment with your email address and I'll send the pdf to you.

As for those meals and snacks, this week I have planned:
Breakfasts
cranberry apple baked oatmeal
green smoothie (not appealing on cold mornings)
Lunches
pea soups or turkey chili from freezer
tuna sandwich (less mayo) on homemade bread
Dinners 
sesame honey chicken with rice and broccoli
...need another recipe... maybe a chicken curry, low salt
Snacks
plain air-popped popcorn
homemade chai latte with soy milk (snack)
toast slice with almond butter
diced apple with cinnamon
Drinks
water, water, water
lemon water (hot)
green tea (hot)
I hid the cocoa mix. :(

This is going to be an awful week but I need to share so that I'm more likely to stick with it. Days that I exercise, I get a heart sticker on my calendar. I want this week full of heart stickers. Need a sticker sheet for healthy eating, too. (Can't use gold stars; those indicate sales. It should go without saying that I want those every day, too.)

Occurrences, Week of 1.24.14

Reading: Dog Handling. Read it years ago and now it's going into the To Donate/Trade pile. Picking a new book tonight.

Watching: The usual: Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Law & Order SVU; Red Dawn, Clerks, and in preparation for the new season, The Following S1. Saw The Hobbit 2, meh. Was amused that the Pie-Maker was the elf king.

Listening: Pandora stations for Santigold

Eating / Drinking: Marathon cooking on Sunday: 4bean turkey chili, cornbread, sandwich bread, and chai latte concentrate. Lots of chili this week, and went out for sushi on Tuesday (a nice treat!). Hot toddies for drink; who knew I would be drinking this much bourbon?

Domesticating: Spent a lunch break rearranging and cleaning the back living room, and another lunch break tidying the dining area. Post-holiday the house always gets chaotic, putting it back to normal. The box to donate is getting full.

Learning: Still haven't picked up the French, but in doing research for a project, I did learn that Mark Twain hated Jane Austen's novels: Jane Austen's books, too, are absent from this library. Just that one omission alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it. Ouch!

Corresponding: Sent out 3 cards and a birthday postcard to friends. Hope you're stocked up on stamps, prices increase this weekend!

Creating: Crocheting very fine, fuzzy yarn. Will make an amazingly soft scarf if I can ever finish it.

Working: Completed designs for an inviting project, have 4 jobs to print in the next 10 days :)

Goals / Resolutions: Finished Season 1 of Zombies Run and started Season 2. Running much more and it's somewhat enjoyable, but I am distracted from the pain with the stories. Shins are still giving me trouble. Painted my nails this week, they're still short but not jagged so I figured why not?

My Favorite Instagram(s) of the Week:

Have a good weekend!

Cheers,
ashley 

MLK, Jr.

I have decided to stick with love...

hate is too great a burden to bear.

I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.

Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967

I originally shared this quotation on inviting's blog. This one struck me because of the conscious choice to choose love over hate; it goes along with my desire to reduce negative influence and downers in my life and to choose laughter and joy, and love.

But when reading other quotes, so many are lovely and nicely phrased, but to live in a time when it needed to be said? How hard that era must have been...

-ashley

Occurences, Week of 1.17.14

Reading: Finished Daily Rituals and Life a la Mode; reading a portion of Profiles in Courage in between novels. (Looking for the next novel.)

Watching: Downton Abbey, Law & Order: SVU, Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (bad bad bad), My Cat from Hell (after a few drinks), Sleeping with the Enemy and Sherlock, to get excited about the premiere on Sunday.

Listening: Chopin station on Pandora with lots of Satie sprinkled in.

Eating / Drinking: Made a ground turkey (seasoned with thyme, fennel & black pepper) and cheese tortellini soup. Drinking a pot of Orange Spice tea almost every morning and herbal tea in evenings. T's started making hot toddies so we've been enjoying those as well. (So nice that he makes them! Usually I am bartender and cook so it's pleasant to get a break here and there, especially now that he knows where I store all of the spices.) Have sadly realized that I can whip up a small bowl of mac&cheese quickly and that it makes a delicious breakfast on cold days. At least the pasta is whole wheat and the cheese is 2%.

Domesticating: Cleaned on top of the refrigerator (seriously gross but now it's beautiful!) Took advantage of the slow work week: steam cleaned the bathroom tiles & grout, tidied the tool shelf in the pantry. The sofa was cleaned by Macy's warranty people (again) but I don't think the (cat urine) smell has left. Will likely be calling Macy's next week to try again. (They might as well just send me the credit memo- The Emma makes potent urine, there's no way it's coming out so I'll take the replacement sofa, please and thank you.)

Learning: behind on my French. :(

Corresponding: Don't forget, stamp prices increase on the 26th so stock up now on Forever stamps at today's rate. Your letter-writing habit will thank you. (Also write more letters!)

Creating: Crochet bracelet while watching TV and a paint-by-numbers kit- it's lame but quite relaxing: I know it's going to be lame, and I don't care, so I'm just enjoying the act of painting.

Working: It's, sadly, been a s-l-o-w work week but I've been in discussions with potential clients, completing tasks like inventory, Quickbooks for 2013, sales tax payments, and other not-so-fun projects that need to be done. I've also done a little designing which has been nice!

Goals / Resolutions: Did Zombies, Run missions twice this week and pushed myself to run more than a mile without walking. Shins made me pay for it in between runs so I couldn't go every day. Haven't bitten my nails since the 31st- another couple weeks until they're long enough to paint.

My Favorite Instagram(s) of the Week:

Have a good weekend!

Cheers,
ashley 

Daily Rituals

I received this book for Christmas, and am enjoying reading it before bed and when I first wake up.

There are two "rituals" that seem to appear in more than half of the creators written about: alcohol abuse and sleeping aids! Some writers start drinking before 10am! And then continue until the early hours of the morning. And the sleeping aids. Some use alcohol's effects for that, others use pills. Some drugs used I've never heard of, and I think that's a good thing.

The use of sleep aids is something I definitely share with those artists. Most nights, especially when my To Do list is growing, I must take a melatonin, just to slow down the thoughts and let my mind rest. It used to help with the 3am-5am wake-up as well, but those are coming back. (Perhaps I'll up my dosage.)

A lot of the artists are night owls, which I'm starting to understand, but with T working a 9-5 job, I want my schedule to mesh with his as much as possible so that we have (most) evenings and mornings together. It's important to me. Maybe one day, when inviting can afford to pay two people a proper wage (I'm still getting less than minimum wage) he can join me in self-employment and we can adjust the schedules to stay up later and sleep in more, even if just until 8 or so.

My current "ritual" is roughly as follows:
Wake up with T's alarm at 6:30 but stay in bed and and sleep more, play with a cat, or read in bed until he's done getting ready and is having breakfast. I drag myself out of bed when my alarm goes off at 7:15. We visit for a bit and then once he leaves for work, I make tea and start working. (Used to start my day at 9 but lately it's been before 8, sometimes before 7:30.)
Printing hours (on Monday, Weds & Friday) depend on the temperature: if it's hot, first thing in the morning; if comfortable, at 9, and if cold, after lunch.
Design days are Tues & Thursday, usually in the morning hours.
Lunch is from 12:30 to 1.
Afternoons (or cold printing mornings) are spent prepping products for sale or doing computer work like blogging and financials. Financials are (depressing.)
Quitting time is 5:15 but if T has plans after dinner, I often come back to work and work until I get tired, around 10:15. Pop a melatonin if the mind is still racing, and get ready for bed.

Do you have a ritual that gets you started (or through) the day?

Extensive Reading, 2014

As part of the quest to become an "accomplished woman" extensive reading is a rather large part, don't you think? I usually just read before bed, unfortunately, but I create pinterest boards of those that I read, to keep track; here is 2013's. (T also hands me some comic books to read, but they're not all on there. The series that I read are Revival, Saga, and The X-Files.)

One of these is a first edition, and a most prized possession; can you guess which?

Looking forward to adding to the 2014 Reads board. Got any recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers,
ashley 

Farewell 2013, It's Been Fun

Today is one of my favorite days of the year; tomorrow is another one. I like to sit back and look at the year's goals & resolutions, to see what I've achieved and what I failed miserably at. There's no self-hatred though, not this day. It's just a time to review and see if my heart was really in it, or if I just thought that I ought to do something even if it's contrary to my true self. And if it's worthwhile, I'll add it to this year's list and try different steps to achieve it. No big.

Looking at 2013's list, I did quit my job and take inviting full-time, just a little later than I hoped. (Goal was 5-17, my 10 year mark at the firm. Actual date was 7-26.) That was the big one. The rest, well, I got better at running but wasn't consistent. Exercise in general was hit or miss. This year will be better- aiming to log 500 miles. Another one was to clear out the clutter. It's an on-going struggle, but I've gotten better; am way more ruthless than I used to be. Finally started going through the crafting supplies. Will start another Donation box and work on filling it in January.

Capitalism Magazine has a couple articles about New Year's Resolutions: Happy New Year. Happy Life and The Meaning of New Years Resolutions.

So on with the lists! Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!
Cheers,
ashley 

A Skully Christmas

Happy Last Week of the Year! This week is always difficult for me (though not in a bad way). Christmas is over and it's always so much fun that it's sad when it's over, but the New Year is a week away and there are always tasks to complete by then, the most important being the goal-setting & resolution-making. I take my goals very seriously, especially when it comes to my business. Last year, I was determined to take it full-time, and I did that. Now I need to make it grow. So these next few days will be setting my goals and listing the steps needed to achieve them. (Personal resolutions, too. Lots to think about...)

But back to Christmas. So far, we've had three Christmases: an early one with Mom, brother, and his girlfriend, Christmas eve with Mom, Christmas day with Dad, stepmom, grandparents, brother & girlfriend. And since my brother's gifts didn't arrive in time, there will be another christmas. Darn : )

There seemed to be a bit of a theme with a few of the gifts I received this year:

Sealing wax stamp

Clutch/Wristlet

Awesome sparkly necklace from Prague, my new Go To piece :)

What can I say, I love the skulls! And my family knows that.

I hope you had a lovely holiday, however you chose to celebrate it (or not!) For me, christmas means Family, Food & Fun, and that I had.
Bring on the new year!

Cheers,
ashley

Hot Cocktail Time!

It is cold in the house. Not cold-cold-turn-on-the-heater cold, but cold enough to be wrapped in a scarf and watch a movie with a blanket cold. Also cold enough to try some hot cocktails.

Today's drink: Hot Buttered Rum

Make the batter: 4oz good quality butter, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1 cup brown sugar. Mix well. Put 2 Tbsp in glass/mug, add 6oz hot water; stir until dissolved. Add a shot of dark rum. (Recipe from The Art of Manliness)

Result: I'm sleepy. Not sure if it's all the butter or that I don't drink dark rum often (like ever) but I just want to close my eyes. It's tasty, but I feel guilty drinking it- all that butter and sugar. Won't be in heavy rotation, that's for sure!

How do you make yours?

Cheers,
ashley

NIN + A&T 4Ever

A little history: a Nine Inch Nails concert was my first date with T. Since then we've seen them I don't know how many times- really have lost count. 5? 6? maybe 7? With this current tour, T didn't have a job when tickets were released so we didn't buy any.

Then we hear that the day before their San Antonio show, they're performing at Austin City Limits (which is totally surprising- NIN at ACL?? okay...) but we entered to win tickets. No luck. But a very dear friend got tickets from work but wasn't interested so she gave them to us!!

Never have we seen them so close, nor are we likely to again:

Photo stolen from Austin City Limits. The pink circle is us!!

It was awesome.
An interesting set, very unlike shows in the past, but a lot of fun. Can't wait to see the taping- being so close you miss out on the bigger picture, plus there was a tall guy in front of me so I could only see Reznor from the chin up. The back-up singers (a new addition to the touring group) were fantastic- really enjoyed them. And while some of the "standards" were missing, this version of Sanctified was great (but then I'm partial to Pretty Hate Machine.)

ACL Weekend Fun

I was lucky enough to go to Austin City Limits' Music Festival again this year- went as my friend Ariana's +1 since her husband had to work.

We had SUCH a fun time.

Friday

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
a little bit of Jimmy Eat World

We've been friends since we were ten!

Fun.
Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

 Depeche Mode- one of my favorite bands!

Depeche Mode! Saw them in San Antonio several years ago but enjoyed it even more this time!
They didn't play Halo, which is my favorite, but they did play A Pain That I Am Used To so all is good.

The Quietness of Working from Home

This morning I got an early start; was pulling type for a specimen sheet shortly after T left for work. Had a Pandora radio station playing The Smiths, with lots of 80s and Joy Division sprinkled in. It was nice and productive; and digging through the type drawers is strangely relaxing. Dirty as hell, but relaxing. Just had the fan blowing, and when the temperature hit 85* I called it a morning. Was at a stopping point and very hungry, so it was time.

After cleaning up, I made myself a little lunch (salad with goat cheese, sandwich with ham slices & some leftover Brie):

Before I opened my book, I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet the house was. The cats were all dozing, the a/c hadn't kicked on yet and I turned off the music when finished printing. There was the slightest hum from traffic, and a ceiling fan was on. That was it, and it was so nice.

In the middle of my lunch, my phone rang- it was my replacement from the law firm. She hated to bother me but didn't know who else to ask as the people in the office who would know were both out. I'm always happy to help, and after I made a couple suggestions and we hung up, I laughed: I don't have to deal with document productions any more! Huge productions in zipped files, needing to save them to specific places and copy certain people and make the proper notations... yeah, I don't need to worry about that stuff any more.
And if that isn't motivation for making inviting a success, I don't know what is!

After lunch, photographed the new wedding design that I printed, got that listed in the shop, did Quickbooks for the week, and worked on finding more samples for the Personalized Stationery brag book/catalog to take to shows for pre-orders.

Now, the a/c is on, PBS is streaming some American Experience, but the cats are still quiet and I'm feeling ready to make my list for tomorrow and to work on a PWaT project, calling inviting done for the day, with the exception of working on an interview for This Creative Life.

Hope your day has been as quiet and productive as mine. It's tea time.
Cheers,
ashley

New Things for PWaT Coming... Soonish

Okay, I don't really know when. But hopefully this fall I can get some things going. Making plans.

Also, when making notes to myself for this, I abbreviate it PWaT and i was curious if "pwat" meant anything so I looked it up. Nothing on dictionary.com but on urbandictionary.com (where you have to look just to make sure nothing is slang for something vulgar!):

I can live with that ; )

See y'all later. Gotta get back to work.

Cheers,
ashley

Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Well, I did it. I quit the day-job on Friday.

Had a small party that night, which served as a pretty good distraction: party planning outweighs almost all other concerns. :) A few now-former coworkers showed up which was very nice. Friends, family & drinks. All good things.

Didn't get a picture of the set up, but the evening's cocktail was The Paloma: tequila, grapefruit soda, and lime juice. Made it in the punch bowl so I didn't need to mix all night. Basically, in the punch bowl, 2 bottles of Jarritos grapefruit soda + 20 oz of tequila, and a thing of lime juice from the produce section. Sounds like a LOT of tequila, but it didn't taste like it. Also, used another bottle of the mexican soda to make the ice ring in a bundt cake pan. (Should have made two, as it melted pretty quickly.) But it was good. So refreshing!

And Sunday was my birthday. Happy birthday to meeee, I'm unemployed!

What's Happening In My World

Listening to

• Pandora stations for Santigold and a Chillville mix (think Thievery Corporation with some Moby and light belly dancing music; it's good for mornings).
• ipod has a 90s mix playing in the car. Been fun listening to music I bought in high school.

Watching

• Longmire 
• Inspector Lewis
• The Fall
• Dexter
• Breaking Bad
• X-Men First Class
• The Avengers

Reading

Baking

• attempted pull-apart pastries like the coffee shop at work. Not very successful. Next recipe!

Cooking

• Pasta sauce with pork (YUM). Other than that, it's been a toast, soup and freezer-meal week.  

Drinking

• Daily Soy Chai Lattes from homemade concentrate. First attempt had WAY too much vanilla. Second was better. Getting closer to mimicking the Tazo Chai box... Perhaps within two more tries? And once I feel I've succeeded, I'll share my recipe. 
• Lemon water? Seriously, I'm so boring these days!! Miss cocktails so those will come in the near future, plus I set up a bar tray on the sideboard. It is totally encouraging martinis!
  
  

  

  Fresh mint, texas vodka, silver tray of Grandma M's, tiny cocktail glasses from Mom, vintage stirrers from the Austin Flea.

Projects

• New e-store for inviting, updating photos for website
• Crocheting a small infinity scarf to keep me warm in the studio this winter

Health / Fitness

• Some ballet fit / Ballet Beautiful moves daily
• Adding walking/jogging to weekend routine. Will alternate with the ballet workouts daily once I...

Looking Forward To

• ...take inviting full-time! 
• My birthday later this month!

Favorite Things: How to Dance Properly...

Saw this in Girls of a Certain Age / Good.Is a while back and i still love it!

And now you feel like dancing, don't you?

Have you seen this? Lego 007

 My brother sent this a while back. It. Is. Awesome.


I could watch the entire movie like that.