test run

Auntie Janet is having a sixties themed birthday party, so naturally I wanted to try out makeup before the big day. I swung by Ulta and got some false lashes just for the occassion. Falsies can be used a couple times, so I only got the one pair. Don't think I'll add them to my regular routine. THAT BEING SAID I did really like how long my lashes looked with them on. I felt all flittery and elegant. I want to practice it a little more, and maybe try a few different tutorials. Still, yay! Fun things are afoot.

I talked to Ma in the morning.

My secret santa gift arrived AND my Ladies of Heavy Metal calendar (my friend Leah's project, which I helped Kickstarter). My secret santa was TOFFEE! Yumm! Good start to the day.

But also a slow start. I didn't get onto my errands till 3ish. I did bang out a couple paintings later on. But I still don't have a packed suitcase. I need to get on that. Now. Right when I'm done writing this blog post. Which isss....

NOW

finished for 2013

I painted my nails in a rainbow. Red on the far left pinky, to violet on the far right one. The rainbow at the end of a hectic week! Wheeew!

Thursday:

Ran this job. Weeded vinyl. Weeded more vinyl. Ended up staying late working on the vinyl. Things were not as orderly as they ought to be. We are working on it, but there has been some turn over and it's taking time sorting itself out, though considering how busy we are....it's not the best time. Ah. Oh well. Don't want to go into too much detail here on this public blog. Busy is good! And I'm setting up jobs like a champ, so that rocks.

Took a nice hot bath when I got home and went to bed at a respectable hour because I agreed to show up at work at 9am.

Friday:

I got doughnuts on the way to work, because I figured people would like doughnuts. I bought and consumed two custard doughnuts. Balanced breakfast! We ran a bunch of jobs. Fronts, backs, lefts chests, sleeves. I broke down the press. Set it up. Caught. Counted shirts. There were a few hiccups, but no one lost an arm. It was a long shift, but getting there early still made it feel like I was getting out in good time.

Yaaay! I'm on vacation!

Got home. Had some tea and hummus and chips and all that good stuff. It's nice to leave on a Sunday because I don't have to stress about doing the whole travel thing RIGHT when I'm done with work.

So tomorrow... sort out a few last minute gits. Clean my room. Pack. THEN I GO HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! YAAAY!

wednesday

Wednesday down! Two more days to go! Whoooo!

I weeded some vinyl. I burned some screens. Coated some screens. There was a Costco run that resulted in MORE HOT DOGS AND PIZZA! Yay! I set up the job and Jeff said I was really good at setting up screens.

The day moved along. Didn't go fast, didn't go slow. Just went along.

Got home. Did my laundry. Ate some foody food. Folded laundry.

Worked on prezzies. The one I ordered yesterday showed up as being shipped. Come on Christmas Miracle!

printorama & pressorama

Printed my Christmas Print! Yay! I'm pretty stoked on this one. It went off without a hitch. Psyched to give it to people. Whooo! I should print more things. It only takes a few hours after work.

I was allocated to heat transfer pressing. We had a small order of jerseys to get done ASAP, and they had lots of little bits to be put on. Loooots of little bits. But since I was in my own little corner of the shop, I got to listen to stuff. Yay. I like my stuff.

I also coated screens and weeded vinyl. A full 8 hour day, then my own printing! Which was fun.

Got home. Made some pasta. Ate a bit of it with sauce for dinner, but most went to a tupperware for tomorrow's lunch. Easy peasy. We've got a lot of work to do in the next few days!

Then I go hoooome! I just ordered another present and I hope it arrives it time to give it to the person I want to give the present to. Ohhhh.

ciao and hello to a new person in January

Back at it! I put my tunes on the radio using the tape adapter. Electric Six, Cake, Kaiser Chiefs, and White Stripes were the days mix.

Also I set up the job like a PRO! Needed no tweaking. That felt awesome. Ran the job. Well traded off a bit with Jeff. I counted some shirts in, because it was a bonkers order. Three different piles, with mens and ladies tees, and mens and ladies long sleeves, and hoodies and windbreakers. Like...what? And some were black, some were white, some were gray, some were "asphalt" whatever color THAT is.

Not a shabby day. It was even warm!

Got home to this month's house meeting. Well first we ate dinner. My sauce, Tara's pasta. Mmm. Very savory on the second day.

Justen is moving out! He has some job thing down in San Diego, so he is going to do that. The meeting went well.

Didn't work on art like I ought. I'll work on art tomorrow.

elementary drawing

Quick Sherlock from CBS' Elementary. Love it when he cooks.

getting it done

Today went by fast and I managed to be productive! Got up early and made a grocery run. Got the pasta sauce going. It ended up being a loooot of sauce. Not sure how I'll enjoy that over the coming week for lunch. Hopefully a lot of it gets eaten at the house meeting tomorrow.

I did one Christmas painting. I bought the paper for my Christmas print and I watched Somm on Netflix Instant while I designed the print. So I've got that done. Just need to print it some time this week. Booyah.

The movie Somm was okay. It didn't really get into wine history like it could have, nor the stories of the dudes testing for the thing.

Had some pasta for dinner. Liked the sauce. I didn't add the marjoram because they didn't have marjoram at Trader Joe's, nor in our spice cupboard.

My to-do list is looking manageable, so that is good. Time to write a "by the end of the week" one!

can't tell you nothin'

Friday:

Didn't do so bad on the whole sleep thing.

Oh and The Hobbit was AWESOME! So much fun. The barrel escape is still going through my mind.

But yeah, wasn't so tired at work. Jeff called in sick. I accidentally burned a few screens (couldn't locate the other screens and thought they had been reclaimed. Oops, well I had shown boss that I hadn't located the screens, so he did say to burn them). And I weeded vinyl and did heat pressings. That took a while, though I did end up getting out early.

After work I drove up to Ikea, which is in Palo Alto. I got some meatballs. Because one ALWAYS starts an Ikea trip with meatballs. I knew what I was there for, but still I wandered the market. One never know what they didn't know they needed. In this case I bought some glasses to supplement the cabinets at home. I bought the frames that my Christmas print is going to go into.

Returned home. Worked on my To Do list. Went to sleep.

Saturday:

Slept in, which maybe I shouldn't because I had tons of stuff to do today. But oh well. Had some oatmeal and tea. Did my makeup:

Then I went downtown and... did some Christmas related things. Things that I can't mention because it would give away the surprise. But I really like what I did. Haha.

Went home. Made pasta. Ate it all, even though the box probably said 2 servings. It was too late to go to Trader Joe's for food stuff, so I'll do that tomorrow. Then I'll spend a lot of time drawing! And maybe doing another shopping errand. But I have lots of drawing to do, and it must be done!

Damn. Next weekend I'll be headed home for the holidays! I need to figure out my sixties makeup! Waahhh!

Maybe I'll go bother the ladies at Ulta. Get some false eyelashes. That was a part of the 60s, right? False eyelashes? That Twiggy look. Hmmm.

back to Mirkwood

I painted my nails with a coat of blue then a coat of purple. Made a really nice shade. I need to start layering and play with that more! Nail polish. So much fun. Did you know sales of nail polish and red lipstick go up when the economy is down? Makes sense, as they are little vanity purchases. It's easier to buy than, say, a whole new set of makeup or something.

Work was all right. I miss my tunes, though I got a chance to listen to some while coating screens. I did the heat press thing. I double coated a screen. I taped screens. I counted in shirts for several orders.

Not a full day, which was nice. Finally got out a little early instead of late.

Got home. Had some dinner. Did some laundry. Now I shall go see The Hobbit!! Obviously I'm blogging now because I'll be getting home at 3 and I get up at 8ish for work SOOO.

and now: poetry!

Feeling a little bit better today. A little bit of Googlin' does a girl good about certain things. Have to itemize what needs to be done with certain plans. Secretive!

And a good chat with your mother. That can do a girl good as well.

Work was dull. I've been told not to listen to my MP3 player as it is a distraction. Of course sans it, I still made an error. I dunno. I get it when it comes to being in a busy studio, but if I'm just doing my own thing for a length of time, why not? It gives me peace of mind and it makes the time pass. Today was just...like. Uhg. I don't like being in my head that much. But guess I gotta do what I'm told.

This job is the only thing really keeping me in Santa Cruz. What is that tipping point of job satisfaction versus home dissatisfaction?

I bought my ticket for The Hobbit! Yay!

Then I spent the rest of the night sort of by myself in my room. People were home and chatting and stuff, but I didn't feel up to being social. I'm not in a good mood these days. I kinda just want to be left alone, but I also want company. I think I want the company of people that are too far away.

My yellow nail polish is making me happy though. It's a really nice color and the clear top coat is preserving it nicely! I came up with this poem by way of browsing my nail polish colors:

racy red sheer satin slip
hot magenta gunmetal
blue me away!

Kara made a Costco run for work supplies, and I suggested that she get hot dogs. And she got hot dogs! Well Chris told her to get hot dogs after I told him to tell her. Everyone was super stoked on the hot dogs. Point to me for taking the hot dog initiative!

It's only Tuesday

Had a not so good day at work. And just. Uhg.

Really it's only my job that keeps me in Santa Cruz. It's a nice city, but I can't see myself being here in the long term. And I turn 26 this January, so if I get to 27 and I'm still here? Like. Uhg. It'll feel like spinning wheels. It doesn't feel like much has changed for me in the year and a half I've been here. I don't like that feeling. But when you have a good job, it's hard to leave because all that is out there is uncertainty. Ya know?

Uhg. Yeah. Not a good day. And it was long too and it didn't leave much at the end of the day to relax and now it is 11 and I've been staying up way too late so I should get some rest early.

It's tough being a big part of a small studio, because you can't just call in sick like you can in High School.

Holidays can't come soon enough. Neither can The Hobbit.

I've got all 50 of my cards addressed! That feels like quite the accomplishment.

two weeks till holidays, not that I'm counting

Damn. How is it already midnight? Well I guess working a full 8 hour day when you start at 10:30 really kills your evening.

I printed the fronts on the job, and boss printed the backs. Which was nice because it took some fussing with and I'm glad I didn't have to be on the shirt side of the job. Jeff did embroidery. Ryan did reclaiming. We are working on figuring out how to run the studio sans Andrew and plus Ryan. Kinda have to renegotiate how to do things, and find out everyone's systems so that things don't get lost.

Also apparently the studio was 27 degrees in this morning, but when I arrived it was warmer due to the dryer being on. When I cooled the dryer down, it was the fasted cool down I've ever seen. Normally it takes like 20 minutes, but I swear it was off in 5.

I started listening to the Stuff Mom Never Told You podcast. No slight on you Mom, it's just interesting women's history stuff, and also just general womensy stuff. Learning!

It's so cold in Santa Cruz. I need to find my leggings. Why does it feel so much colder here? Well my room doesn't retain heat worth a damn, sooo.

Bleh.

Have any of my packaged arrived up in Seabeck yet?

nerdlife

Saturday:

SOooo. My nerd errand. I was meeting up with some other Cabin Pressure fans over in San Martin, California. See the show is going to have a final episode, and all the fans across the world are getting together to make a "thank you!" video for the show creator. So me and Robin, the other NorCal yet not San Francisco Cabin Pressure fan had a little meeting over at this little airport in San Martin. Near Gilroy. I got up nice and early and drove over. The weather was good and the hills were nice. Gilroy is really proud of its garlic.

Anyhoo. Met up with Robin, fellow Cabin Pressure fan, at the Magnum Aviation place over in San Martin. Me her, and her husband Ray, and we took a couple nerdy pictures with the planes. Basically we'll submit the photos and they'll be compiled into a video/thing (I suppose). It's a nice way to get together all around the world and show someone their work is appreciated. Either way, it is nice to get out of the house.

I got a bit lost driving back from Gilroy, and ended up in Salinas before turning back to Hollister. Still, I was in no hurry and I got back home by noon. Then I was left with the rest of the day, in which I had gotten up early, to be productive! So I walked down to Palace Arts and procured my secret santa gift exchange gift, as well as some other gift exchange stuff. For the first time in my life, I had shown up at a store without my wallet! So I had to have them hold my stuff. I walked back to my place, grabbed my wallet, and walked back. I'm generally so good at be prepared for stores.

Afterwards I worked on correspondence and ate some pasta. I went to bed early because I was tired.

Sunday:

I woke up at 9:30, and decided that was too early and went back to sleep.

At 1:30pm, I got up and had some breakfast. Well, lunch maybe? I worked on more cards writing. I got some food. No crock pot this weekend. I made some snowflake decorations for the window. I itemized what had to be done in the near future. It's looking less busy now, so that is good! Just have to make my Christmas print and buy the frames.

Saturday was relatively productive, and Sunday was very much not. I guess it balances out?

so very dry

Blaaah. Felt sort of foggy all day. Not getting to bed at proper hours. No good.

I ran the shirts on one job. I caught a bit. I broke down the press. I burned some screens. We have implemented a white board at work! The abbreviations are D, F, S, G. Also known as: docket (the sheet that breaks down the shirt order and has an image of the shirt), film (for burning), screens (screens burned and taped and otherwise prepped), garments (clothes ordered and counted). The white board has two weeks worth of days in which to post jobs. So that is neat. Hurray! Organization!

My lips are so very dry. Just horribly try. Blistex did nothing. The sample of balm from Lush did nothing. I bought Aquafor's lip repair. WOW! AMAZING! Aquaphor is the best.

I have a nerd errand to run in the morning/early afternoon. Weather permitting. Then other errands.

carded part two

My lips are so dry! Waaah! Trying to keep them moisturized.

Work was sooo cold. We didn't need the heater on. I grabbed a beanie from the stack, and a shirt to add to my current layer. That is how cold it was! I think I'll wear some tights under my jeans tomorrow. I coated some screens. I ran some stickers than needed this ink that needed hella chemicals to remove. Yes I used gloves. Several layers of them. I cut some banners. Taped screens. Burned screens.

Oh so cold. We did run a job, and it was a bit warmer then. Still. Bleh.

I was grateful to go home, turn on the heat, and eat some warm carbs. I dropped off 15 cards this morning, and I have 18 to post tomorrow. So that is neat!

I ran out of stamps. So now I have to buy stamps. Only need 20 more to cover the rest of the cards with some left overs.

carded

Printed 50 cards after word, addressed 31 envelopes, added several addresses to my address book, and wrote up 15 cards to post! Three are going abroad, so that is cool. I'm calling it a night. I'll get the rest written up tomorrow night and in the mail on Friday. I'm pretty happy with these cards. Only three were really goofs, but none so much that they were really goofed up. Printing at work was much easier. I could use the pallet and the squeegees and all the equipment was there to be used if I needed it. I still did it manually, but OH so much easier. Boss dug the design. I didn't get out till almost 9pm, and I had to scrape the frost off my car. It's going below freezing now. Boo. Cold bad!

Got some good pod cast listening in today.

I caught AND ran shirts. And taped and burned screens. And delegated Ryan to reclaiming.

I finally listened to the Nikola Tesla history podcasts, but they were rather general and mostly stuff I knew. The Queen Nzinga podcast was awesome! I listened to the Radiolab episodes: Blood, and Bliss. Both very interesting, though I wish they spent more time with the special effects guy and all the types of fake blood he uses.

My lips are so dryyy!

So I got home all tired and stiff and set to writing up my cards. I have some in tan, some in yellow, and some in pink. Which will you get???

To get a long little doggy!

Attention Ma & Pa, I am ordering some Christmas presents online, but I'm having them shipped to the Seabeck address. So anything that arrives for me, just put it on my bed. DON'T UNWRAP IT!!! Okay? The estimated delivery date is the 10th-26th, so hopefully they arrive!

Anyhoo. Okay.

I loaded shirts on the press! But it went slow because they were polos and the front had to have the buttons pressed down into the well of the zipper pallets, so that the button wouldn't rupture the screen. I did all right!

Coated screens. Burned my own screens at the end of the day. Taped screens. Caught shirts. Weeded. The day really scooted along.

Learned about Freya of Arabia. And did you know that Pablo Fanque, as mentioned in the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, was a real person?

I have gnocchi and Gorgonzola for dinner. It was good.

Why did the cowboy buy a dachshund?

Back at it! Ryan cleaned and reclaimed. So odd to have that done by someone who isn't me. I did museum banners. I hope I didn't mess one up. I'll see if it gets rejected. Properly doing those banners for poles, you know the ones that hang flat off the side of poles up in the air? is really hard. Very specific measurements need to happen.

I also burned a bunch of stuff. Double coated. Weeded. Heat pressed. Nice start to the week.

Unless I messed up that banner. Errr.

Had some tea once I got home. Started to listen to the podcast about Fridtjof Jansen. A Norwegian explorer with a great mustache. It's a two part episode, so I'm excited to learn more. Apparently he didn't die young on the arctic, so yay!

I'm all caught up on Thrilling Adventure Hour. I guess I'll balance Stuff You Missed in History with more Radiolab and Dinner Party Download.

my four days are up

Got up bright and early (10am) and got the crock pot cooking for some tasty chicken tikka masala. Got it in the pot. Chopped up all the ingredients. Got it going! Then I spent 8 hours enjoying the smell of the kitchen. Mmm. Smelled so good.

I got out of the house for some tertiary grocery shopping. Had some pasta for lunch. Watched some tv and took a bath and read. A nice relaxing day.

I think I could have cut the chicken a bit thicker, but overall it was very tasty. Mmmm.

Hung out with Dylan and Justen a bit. Overall a relaxing day. To the grind I go, once again!

Well I say grind. I do like my job.

the quest for red chiles

I had NO IDEA it would take so much effort to find red chiles for the chicken tikka masala recipe! At least Santa Cruz isn't big and there are several grocery stores all on the same loop. First was Safeway (after trying Trader Joe's on other days). Did not have it, but they did have doughnuts and these exfoliating skin pads I've been trying to find but were not at Wallgreens or CVS. Funny what you can find at the dingey Safeway. Whole Foods had a whole bunch of fancy expensive food, but no red chiles! They did have compostable compost bags, so now the compost bin will lack the sticky bottom. Which was ew. Tara put her yogurt in the bin this morning, because she didn't want to clog the sink..but I ended up pouring it in the sink anyway because ... gross. And what, I was jut going to put yogurt in the can outside? That stuff goes rancid. There is a difference between yogurt and apple cores. Anyway. Yeah. With bin liners there should be a better compost situation.

Shoppers Corner had the red chiles and I told the check out lady that she was my savior. I couldn't believe that it took multiple stores to find! I could swear they were everywhere, but maybe I'm thinking of red bell peppers. Hmm.

Anyway. Returned home. Installed the new compost liners. I worked on my holiday card. Ate left overs. Struggled with my makeup. Somedays it is easy, somedays it just doesn't work. Normally when I mess up my eye liner. I can blend in shades pretty well, but getting gel liner right and even is tough.

I caught the late showing of Catching Fire. The guy working the ticket counter had an awesome beard and I told him so. I walked to the theater on 41st, which was surprisingly walkable. I enjoyed the movie. Though it sort of sped along getting from the starting content to the arena. Sort of "oh right there is a whole 'nother chunk to this story!" Good actors, and the effects were awesome. I enjoyed it. No shakey cam!

Back home I got my chicken marinating. Yogurt, cumin, coriander, a bit of salt. Sliced the chicken up, but oh wow it seems EVERY knife in this house is dull. I need to find a way to sharpen them. It's absolutely awful.

So yaaay, tomorrow I get up and get my chicken cooking! 8 hours worth of slow cooking, but it'll get started around 11ish if I manage to roll out of bed. Hurray!