I'm not going to lie to you dear readers... I decided on the word tonight. I've been going back and forth, round and round on what my word for this year might be. I liked achieve, aspire, responsibility and more... My one little word for this year is about action, about doing things and making an effort and getting out of my comfort zone and being proud of myself and satisfied with the way things are going in my life. It's about progress and pushing myself and flexing my mental and physical muscles past what they are use to.

I thought achieve because I wanted to cross things off lists, but I wanted more than that. I didn't just want to cross things off lists or reach a goal, I wanted something that was about reaching for, coming to and continuing on. Responsibility, though not about achievement or doing something was about taking personal responsibility for EVERYTHING in my life. Job, no job, good, bad, indifferent... my life, my reactions, my responsibility. 

Truth be told, I'll be living and working through all of these words but strive seemed to sum up most of them and it fit really well in the space. It looked good. 

So here's to crossing off another project from my first quarter goal list :) and here's to striving to be a better me and make a more positive and fulfilled life in 2012. 

While we're here do we want to play a little game of what's on my desk? Yes? Awesome! So do I!

Starting from the bottom left: Pictures that I tore out of magazines, cat stickers and a blank thank you note, my weather owl, world pen holder, journals, clorox wipes (I'm a little crazy about germs sometimes), a bento box that I used to put the little bit of paint I needed, paint, behind the paint a picture of my sister T and I Christmas 2010, one of my favorite pieces of art by The Black Apple, delicious blueberry acai chocolate covered things, aaaand a VS bag full of different candies.

I do most of my work leaning on pillows in my bed...

Well, I'm off to go read some more. 9 books so far this month!!! Maybe I can read one more in the next 2 days!

xoxo

Visualize.Me

A while back my dear friend C Town sent me a link to a website where you could upload your résumé information and have a pretty document churned out for you. Unfortunately when she sent it they were just a intro page with nothing to do yet. 

As time went on (like months and possible a year or so) I kept thinking of the site when I would think of my job hunting necessities and finally, after all this time, I am able to say I have successfully signed up and used this site!

I'm going to go on a mini rant before I gush a little... are you ready? Here it goes. I have THE HARDEST time with personal essays and résumés. Some of my friends have the skill down and when I ask what they do or how they managed to put their successes on paper (or make the mundane look even semi interesting) they just breezily say, "oh, you just brag about yourself." 

Ohhhh, my bad. Right. Just brag. Hmmmm. Is there a class on that? 

Seriously though, I'm at the point right now where I need to write a few personal essays and in the back of my mind I know that my résumé could look better and more impressive, even if the content doesn't change. 

So, in response to that rant is a small fix to a part of the problem. Go to visualize.me and you can put all that info in, pick your color scheme and layout and voilà, a handsome résumé is at your disposal. You even have a link that you can send people to. Definitely helpful in the current times where more and more people are working for themselves and/or freelancing and need flexibility in their documents.

So, as of now, I have one place on the internet where my résumé looks like it is properly dressed for a day of work. Fancy, pretty work. 

It reminds me of Legally Blonde, hers is pink and scented... or is that Clueless. Nevermind, I can't send fragrance through these links yet so this will have to suffice!

Am I the only one in constant state of discontent with my résumé?

xoxo

p.s.  here's where you find mine :) visualize.me/butwewillstay

I've Been Cooking!

Dinner last night was:

tilapia seasoned with garlic salt, seasoning salt, lemon, and pepper

spinach sauteed with garlic, lemon and olive oil

brown rice

white wine sauce (that unfortunately I spilled a lot of before putting it on my food...)

Delicious.

Dessert you ask...

warmed pumpkin muffin á la mode

xoxo

Today was a day full of awesome. I don't have another, not overused, word for it. I started by waking up to the sound of light rain outside. Stayed in bed and woke up with my instagram, twitter and Facebook feeds as well as my email. I know some say that's a horrible way to start the day but it's really the only thing (besides realizing my alarm didn't go off and I'm running late) that wakes me up. 

If I can get my brain reading and processing information it's less likely that I'll fall right back asleep.

Anyway, enough with the excuses for my guilty pleasures (tomorrow's instagram picture prompt!), after I read and looked over the feeds I ate some breakfast and started cleaning out the pantry. It is my most loved and hated chore to clean and organize cupboards or other areas. I think I just find so many things I can organize and overwhelm and tire myself out. But today I had a time limit and so I could only do the pantry and one cabinet that holds tupperwear. 

Can I just past myself on the back for a second when I tell you how great it looks? Or, how much better than it looked before?! AND as I was going through everything I was getting ideas for food to cook. I'm going to be real honest here right now, I am Broke. Capital B, R, O, K, E. I'm working this one SUPER part time job and working on getting some others in the line up but I'm pretty much needing to only buy things from the grocery store. I'm pretty lucky with how many options are available in mom's grocery store (I mean, the pantry of course). 

Again, off track, my day of awesome... RIGHT, so I organized and felt accomplished and then took a good ol' shower and put on a pretty cute outfit. I love this skirt but it's been in my closet for months. First I thought it was too long or too small and then I realized it was suppose to fit higher on the waist AND it would be a perfect length. (well, I really don't know what perfect is and if it really hits the right area of my legs but it served my cute-for-today purpose!)

Do you see those buttons?! They are the real reason I bought this skirt. Honestly, I picked it up from the bins months ago in Portland and I didn't know if it would fit or not but I figured if nothing else I could have the buttons for a dollar or less! Oh pay by the pound bins how I miss you sometimes. 

I attempted some outfit pictures but really wasn't that impressed with my lighting, location or time to take them so I stopped with a couple and went to my super part time (but totally, completely awesome... seriously I love every minute I spend there) job. Great day there per usual, then talked myself into going to the store for some chicken breast, some spinach and cooking wine. I had in my mind what I was going to make for dinner and those were some of the necessary little pieces.

What did I make for dinner you ask? Well, first, I made myself a nice pasta fresca inspired by the dish by the same name at Noodles and Company. I'm not saying it turned out exact, I was lazy with some of the ingredients and measurements, but it was delicious, and I made enough to have it cold tomorrow for lunch. BONUS.

Oop, I lied, first I cooked what would be the main meal, I made creamy mushroom chicken. It was super simple and didn't end up quite the way I wanted but it was still delicious. Made that with brown rice for my mom, my sister and I. Just call me Suzy (you know, like Suzy Homemaker...). 

After cooking two dishes I still hadn't had enough of the kitchen and I was craving something sweet. I wanted chocolate which I have in my room but I also wanted to whip something up. While greek yogurt, fruit, honey and a little bit of granola is usually my go to dessert, I wanted something different. I remembered seeing two different cans of pumpkin puree and so I made pumpkin muffins (I consider them cupcakes really, I mean with all the sugar, let's just call a spade a spade...) and my goodness. The recipe called for a pound of pumpkin and the can I had was one ounce short but I figured it would work and it did! It DID I tell you!
I ate more than two...

While the muffins cupcakes were baking I sat down to finish up a painting I've been working on. It's going to house my word of the year though I'm still deciding between two or three very similar words. I figure tomorrow, or at the very latest, sometime later this week, I will have my word and will finish the painting. Exciting right? Then I'll be able to share my word of the year!

Cute plate huh? Bought it from Target a few years ago and just found it again. I left it behind when I moved last time and that was just silly. I mean, look at it. It's my paint plate.

I watched Pretty Little Liars and painted until all was done.

A great, great day. Now I'm sitting in my bed under my warm blanket typing this and while pictures are uploading I'm reading The Art of Eating In. So far, really great book. Helping me not be sad that I am not allowing myself to buy fast (or restaurant of any kind) food as often if at all.

I'm starting to get this whole synchronicity thing Julia Cameron was talking about in The Artist's Way. I still have a way to go, but I'm making a genuine effort and keeping my excuses to a minimum and programs that I'm choosing to be a part of are lining up with things I'm reading, or things I'm going through almost perfectly.

Feels good.

2012 is shaping up to be just splendid!

xoxo

p.s. did I mention I also did two load of laundry today? Seriously, new name Suzy... or should it be Susie? or Suzie? Ms. Homemaker? Yeah. There we go. ;)


p.p.s. And just in case you are wondering... cardigan: Urban Outfitter, shirt: American Eagle, skirt: Goodwill bins, ship pocket watch: Urban Outfitter, shoes (barely shown): Target!

52 photos in 52 weeks: Week 3

This week was full of great pictures. Well, I'll be honest, Sunday was the most full of great pictures because I went on a little adventure... took the Holga 120 out on the town in Encinitas, but the beginning of the week held some good ones and so I could not just pick one.

The one above, my favorite for awe factor, not design or sheer brilliance, is of a man who was waiting for his wife to get through her doctor's appointment. I was waiting on my grandpa to get through his (he's doing okay right now, he is out of the nursing home and back in his home and chair but every day is a gift at this point, especially when it's without blood pressure skyrocketing or any slips) and I saw him sitting there reading a book, just like I was (though, in all fairness, I was reading on my iphone...). I had to snap a picture. More cute (and strange) older gents later...

My other favorites are as follows:

One - I take notes and make passages in books, I've started keeping a little notebook of all my thoughts and quotations this year. Mostly for business/self help/etc books. Nice to refer back to. :)
Two - End. One of my favorite broken down buildings in Encinitas. They more recently put gates around it which is a bummer, I would have loved to go up the stairs and such. I figure it was an apartment building at one point. Don't know what happened since.
Three - My first favorite broken down building... or at least the address.
Four - It's a school in great need of repair. It's been closed off for years and there have been people working on it or in the fenced off school yard for the past three years but nothing seems to change from where I can see. How big of trouble would I get in if I jumped the fence? I mean, all I want to do is take pictures. Not even to sell...
Five - Boats without motors. House boats. I think these things are just so cute. I guess the city was trying to get them torn down because they aren't up to city codes or something (probably blocking someone's view... ugh) but the people prevailed and the boats shall stay another day. Aren't they cute?!
Six - I figure that these tiles were made by kids in junior high at the oldest but there's one talking about the gangster (not gangsta) of love. Made me chuckle.
Seven - The side of the cutest little post office in Leucadia. It's tiny, sooo tiny. Probably been there for so long, but the paint looks fresh and people still use it. I love it so.

As promised I'm going to leave you with more older gent pictures...

One: Cuuuutest couple. The woman was scared about some tests she was suppose to be getting, the husband was teasing her but you could tell it was in love, not in any way mean like my grandpa is to my grandma. I figured he was way younger than my grandpa but it turns out they are the same age. Sigh.

He was chuckling and she was chuckling and they were both giving each other a hard time about different things. So much spirit and affection. I am crossing my fingers for that kind of relationship at that age.

Two: What I first noticed about this woman was that she had the same kind of walker my grandpa has. Then I noticed the HUGE purse she kept on the seat part, and THEN I noticed the go-go like red boots she was wearing while using the walker. I mean hey, do what you want, but if you think you might need a walker, maybe you shouldn't wear heals? Or carry a purse even larger than mine (which is really, really saying something). But that lady had her sense of style and she wasn't going to budge from it no matter if she needed a walker or anything else. I give her a mental high five for that. Spunk. 

With all this talk of those of a different generation I just have to mention Betty White's Off Their Rockers. I had the great pleasure of seeing some of it last night and oh goodness, I love Betty White so much. So, so much. The show is just awesome. Premise? Older people pranking younger people. Great stuff.

I hope I'm still this excited about this project 30 weeks in!

xoxo

Happily Wasted

I'm starting to feel like the weeks go by really fast but then I look back to Monday and it seems so long ago. I mean, this Monday I was taking my grandpa to some doctor's appointments and then mid week was getting some hours in training for a job (a part time job, still not out of the dark yet) and then the weekend was a couple of sick days followed up and closed off with a Sunday of a library visit, solo photo adventure then quality chat time with dad and Dad's house family dinner. 

I even managed to get dad's family (minus my lovely sister T, who is away at NAU right now getting pinned in her sorority and everything, baby girl I love you) to watch the movie Hanna. I knew I could get them with the previews because it shows her being all intense fighter/hunter like, but I also knew it was somewhat artsy (read: not all explosions and fights like my dad and brother like best) and so we started it and we managed to finish it. Hehehe I take full blame for that choice. Suckas! They will probably never trust me again on movie choices... I'm not sure why they trusted me in the first place, they know I like deeper films. I mean, DUH my favorite movie is Easy A! Hahaha, okay, it is, but I'm joking about it being a deep film. Social commentary, yes, hilarious, definitely. Deep, nah. 

So there's a lot about nothing... get to the good stuff! links links links!!!

Not even a mama and I want this look!
I love organizational tools. Seriously. It's almost a problem. (Read: others probably consider it a problem)
I can't get enough of the coffee cup chats over at Life as an Artistpreneur!
This woman is incredibly remarkable. I'm in awe. So many struggles and still a beautiful outlook.
Ms. Elizabeth Haley's beautiful room... not to mention blog layout changes!
Gorgeous snail mail!
I want to make a pinhole camera out of an altoids tin!!!

And that is that.

As you may have noticed (I expect you to keep very close tabs and notes on my doings), I have been pushing Happily Wasted off in favor of 52 in 52 photos on Sundays. I thought about it a bit tonight and have decided instead to keep Happily Wasted on Sunday and move 52 in 52 photos to Monday. Start off the week with something pretty? I think so.

Remember, drive through mail box is that a way... no fries.

xoxo

Another Sick Day

I'm crying on the inside because I'm sick... again. I guess it's been a couple (few) months since I was last sick but I'm still not happy about it. My sinuses are giving me hell right now. So swollen I can't breathe and then I'll sneeze and be able to breath for a second and then NOPE all locked up again. Thanks nasal passages, love you too. 

Robitussin isn't helping at all. I took it an hour ago and there has been no improvement in my quality of sick life. I might even say my symptoms have intensified over the last hour. Or maybe not, but they definitely haven't improved and I'm a big baby when I'm sick. Just look at the picture above. Rubbing my eyes like a crying child.

Just thought I would share. I think it's time to read and go to bed early now.

xoxo