30 days

Apr072013

A Perfect Life

Having just spent the last 2 days at Wordcamp Miami, my passion is running super high for working for myself. Not to mention kicking butt. In my perfect life, RS Creative Solutions will run smoothly and earn us enough money for Steve to do law school and me to not have to work in corporate America.

In reality, I don’t have any consistent clients and don’t get paid for the bulk of the work I do… mostly bc I don’t ever bill for it. From now on, I need to set boundaries, create job scope/ specs, get down payments, have contracts signed all before I ever do a drop of design work.

I’ve been doing this long enough (15 years) that I can’t keep calling myself an amateur. I mean really, that doesn’t help with my design-esteem. Yeah, that’s like self-esteem but for my design work.

I found two somewhat mentors willing to help me with my business and was told that I really need to get to more events in the industry. I was also told our URL was too long. So I bought a shorter one: RS Creates

Now to implement my perfect life.

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Nov022010

Favorite Audiobooks?

I live my life like I am pregnant. I don’t drink, smoke, or take major risks. I don’t eat weird foods or go on roller coasters. In short, I live like I’m carrying precious cargo. Lately, that’s all I think about and our conversations about new baby names, talk of twins, etc don’t help. It’s almost like the wedding ring on my finger meant free reign on baby brain. Yes, I have issues.

Right now I am searching Audible.com for a pregnancy or conception book. Hey, I have a free book credit to use up!

OK OK, it doesn’t need to be a pregnancy book. What are your favorite audiobooks or authors?

I have all the Harry Potter’s and Twilight’s and a ton of other books, but I’m always up for more stuff to listen too!

Also, does anyone want to see me finish up the 30 Days Meme or is it basically pointless by now?

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Sep212010

30 Days: Day 22 Something that upsets you

…See the whole list here…

The distance from my nearest and dearest friends.

Seriously, this is one of the most heartbreaking things in my life these days. When we moved back to South Florida, I knew I was fortunate enough to have him with me. I say back, but for him it was a first move. For me it was a move back to my childhood and a place I swore I’d never live again. Oh the irony.

When I moved to NC all by myself and not knowing a single person, the first few weeks was the absolute hardest until I started making friends at work. Moving back here left a whole new group of friends behind. Dear dear friends that I met during my 4 years in NC. Carrie, Abby, Kelly, Darcy, LaMonica and everyone else… I love you all so much and miss you to pieces!

My best friend lives in Jacksonville, 6+ hours north, with my adorable godsons and I rarely see them. All my closest friends live hours and hours away from me. Thank goodness for the power of Facebook, texting and free mobile to mobile calls! I would quite possibly die of loneliness without some contact from my ladies.

Of course, I live with one of my nearest, dearest and most amazing friends. Steve isn’t my “best” friend, as there are just some things that only my Zeffer will ever know about me. He is, however, the man I love to death and will be forever tied to 19 days from today.

Luckily, we do have technology to keep me sane. <3

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Sep192010

30 Days: Day 21 – Your job and/or schooling

…See the whole list here…

I know I know, I’m hopelessly behind! We had friends in town this weekend and I just didn’t feel like spending too much time on the computer typing up posts.

I’m going to do both job and schooling. My current job is as a part time office manager for a guardianship company in South Florida. The part time part is what is currently killing me. But that’s another story!

My dream job… I’m not sure if I truly have one. I know that I want to open my own yarn store. I don’t know where or how we’ll be able to afford the financing or all the pretty yarn, but one day! Right now I want a social media/ networking, administrative, or marketing job. The goal is to have something for us to be able to pay our bills and save up to have kids in the next couple of years.

As far as my schooling goes, I have a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the [utterly amazing] University of Florida with a minor in Education. According to UF, though, I never applied for the minor officially so it’s not on my diploma. *grumble grumble* As of this past May, I have a Masters degree in Business Administration – yep, an MBA – with a concentration in Management Information Systems from East Carolina University. The Bachelors took me exactly 4 years to complete. I took of one semester, but technically I finished at the end of my 10th semester. The MBA took me 5 very long years. I’ve talked about it several times on this blog. I worked full time the entire time I was in school and took 2 classes per semester. The day I found out I was actually graduating was one of the happiest days of my life. It sure seemed like it would never end at times.

According to loan calculators, I need to be making upwards of $80K a year just to afford my monthly payments. Talk about completely disheartening! Yes, I did get my MBA in the hopes of expanding my job prospects, but after 6 months of searching across the country, I took the part time job in Miami and came back home to be near family.

I’ll just leave it at that. This post shouldn’t be a downer, right?

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Sep152010

30 Days: Day 20 Your morning routine

…See the whole list here…

My morning routine varies depending on which day of the week it is. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are late days into work. Tuesdays and Thursdays are early days. And weekends are just plain lazy days.

My routine begins at night when, thanks to a screwy sleep schedule, I’m typically up working on design work or wedding stuff, mindlessly watching TV or job hunting until about 2am. Smart, eh? It’s also when I catch up on Psych, Covert Affairs, Teen Mom and other shows I’m totally hooked on.

Whatever the day, it’s the iPhone alarm (or 2) in my ear (literally) for 30-40 minutes. Then getting up to put Lola outside, drop food in both pet bowls and flip the TV on (to USA or TNT) as I’m puttering around. Then pick out clothes, shower, brush teeth and pick out jewelry. Right before I leave the house, I grab a Dentibone, watch Lola jump and spin in a frenzy then race over to her crate. My dog sure does love her Dentibone’s!

On my late mornings, this isn’t a problem as I don’t have to be at my dad’s other job to meet and drive into Coral Gables together until noon. Steve gets home from work between 9:15-9:30am, by which time I’ve usually put Lola out, fed Phoenix then went back to bed. Leave me alone, I’m lazy and like my sleep.

The early mornings aren’t really that early. I typically am in the shower when Steve gets home so I can be out of the house by about 10am. Oh who am I kidding, it’s usually 10:30am. These days I stop at Starbucks on my way in IF there is either a free coffee coupon in my hot little hand or if there’s plenty of cash on my Starbucks gold card. Yes, I said gold card. I drink that much Starbucks!

Weekends are glorious since Steve and I finally have the same weekends off. Sort of. He works Thursday night, so sleeps much of the day on Friday, but at least we have 2 nights and a full day to spend together. I live for our weekends together since we see so little of one another during the week days.

What does your schedule and morning routine look like? Are you one of those people that wakes up early on the weekends due to consistency?

…….
Only 10 more days of these posts left. Are you bored of me yet? =D

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Sep142010

30 Days: Day 19 – Something you regret

…See the whole list here…

I could talk about my friends or my family and not being as great a friend as I can be. But, well, I know I’m not. I know that not everyone is perfect.

My regret is spending so much [of the government’s] money on a Master’s degree. A degree that I might not ever use. A degree that will end up costing me far more than it is worth. Oh, I don’t regret the degree or the experience or all the friends I made during the 5 year process. And I certainly don’t regret my move to North Carolina for cheaper tuition during which I made a ton of amazing friends and met Steve. I will never regret those parts.

My regret is how much I owe. Sure, this comes at a time when all I can think about is money and how we’re going to keep afloat once those $600 a month payments start.

Sure, it’s a Master’s degree, but I took a lot of extra money to pay down/ off a lot of my debt and to supplement the peanuts I was making at the jobs I held during that 5 years. And I did. But now I owe all that money back. I absolutely knew I would and I’d rather have the 6-9% interest loans versus the 25-35% credit card interest.

I know, sounds like I knew what I was doing. It was a carefully crafted plan, but the plan also included a very well paying job. Before the job market tanked.

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Sep132010

30 Days: Day 18 Your favorite birthday

…See the whole list here…

I don’t remember many of my childhood birthdays. I mean, I remember Carvel or Publix cakes with weird things on them, balloons, presents and friends. But aside from that, I couldn’t tell you which one was a particular favorite. The one 33 years and 362 days ago was pretty special as that was my BIRTHday.

A few years ago I spent some time in Amelia Island for my birthday, but it was more than a month after my birthday, so does that count? It was great splurging on vacation foods (stuff I’d never spend on at home) and shopping and, of course, being on an island!

This year’s will be pretty special too. It hasn’t happened yet, but it might just be a favorite! My friend Xine and her adorable daughter, PJS, are coming down from Tampa to spend the weekend with us. I am crazy excited! They’ll be arriving sometime Thursday night after Steve’s at work, but that’s ok cuz we can catch up and have girl time! Friday while he’s sleeping after work, I figure we’ll hang around Miami and explore the touristy things I’ve never really done. There’s Pennekamp state park, Larry & Penny Thompson Park, Matheson Hammock, Fairchild Botanical Gardens, Parrot Jungle, Monkey Jungle, Zoo Miami, and so many other places. Ok, things I haven’t done in forever!

Saturday, Steve has a class until noon, but if we pick him up from school and head down, we can be at Marathon Key by around 2pm to hang out and play on the beach. Sunday, before they leave, we can head back to the Keys to play on the beach some more.

Perfect, low-key, pretty much free (save some entrance fees), and just plain FUN!

Oh yes, Thursday can’t arrive soon enough.

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Sep112010

30 Days: Day 17 Your favorite memory

…See the whole list here…

Sorry this is a day late, I took yesterday off and this is restarting with this post.

My favorite memory is still a blur. Could it be the day I received my acceptance into the University of Florida for undergrad? Or perhaps my acceptance to East Carolina University for my Master’s degree. Maybe it was each of the Bon Jovi concerts I attended. Hmm or the day we got engaged.

No, I think maybe it was the day I finally met Steve after several months of emailing and IMing back and forth. We’d both been dating other people, well, he was engaged to his “other person” but it was crumbling quickly. No, that’s not code for anything sketchy. He had a very strange and erratic work schedule and, while my work schedule was consistent, I was also in school. This meant my nights were filled with conference calls with classmates and lots of homework. On a random day off, he called me and we set up a date for dinner that night. I barely made it! I had to race home from Raleigh to Chapel Hill, change out of work clothes and bolt up to Durham.

The first date had a small complication when my friend started calling and texting repeatedly during dinner. As it turned out, their apartment complex was on fire(!) and they needed a place to stay for at least one night with their cats. I assured Steve that it wasn’t a “bad date phone call” and bolted. Boy, I sure was bolting around a lot that night. Once things were settled with them, I called him and we planned our second date, the dreaded work holiday party, a few days later. And all went quite well at the party, obviously!

The best part is, I consider the jilted date our first date and he considers the party our first date. Regardless of these, our wedding anniversary is in 29 days! And since it’s technically Sunday, we are getting married 4 weeks from TODAY!

My iPhone clearly hates taking pictures of my laptop screen…

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