Where did that come from?

I always thought I was useless in emergency situations. I've already told my little brother that he is in charge of any medical decisions that might have to be made for our parents (in the very, very far away future) because I was pretty sure I'd be the blithering mess in the corner.

Well I found out (the hard way) that I might not be quite as useless as I thought. Crap. I mean, yay(?)!

Not to get all cryptic or anything I just had to share that when I was on the front line of a pretty intense situation recently, not only did I keep my head but with the help of God ('cause it sure as heck wasn't me) I was able to help and am continuing to help the situation.

Not much more to add, just a little peek into my growth and all that self-actualization kind of thing.

My life in photos - at least the last few days.

I've been introduced to the world of Zentangles. It's the perfect form of fine art for a non-draw-er like me. Just fitting patterns into fun and sometimes intricate designs.

Washi Tape makes everything more fun! And I never said I was actually GOOD at it.

My swimming pool and backyard have become the new (hopefully temporary) home of a couple feathered friends. I call them Mr. & Mrs. Mallard. They might even be the same pair that visited me last year, but since I'm no ornithologist I'll just say they are. They woke me up Sunday with all their splashing around. It was pretty cute.

I went to my first Author Signing Event on Saturday. It was in San Francsico. It was pouring. We rode the Cable Cars anyway. I got soaked but I also go to meet the lovely Kahea of Girl Hearts Books. So you, know I pretty much had a wonderful time! Unfortunately I hadn't read most of the authors at the event but I'm glad I went.

Did I mention it was raining? Lovely.

Lastly, though no photographic evidence, oh wait screen shots will do (I love technology!) I've started getting up in the pre-dawn hours to work out. My workout partner and I had to make the switch as we were blowing off too many evening workouts in favor of Happy Hour... You don't know of any Happy Hours at 5 am do you? Only kidding, kind of. As of this morning I think I may be on the precipice of actually enjoying the exercise. Who am I?

Well Hello, 2014.

You might have wondered what happened to me? Oh you know life. I ended the partnership I bragged about just a couple of posts ago. It's a good thing. I learned a ton and gained a crap-load of confidence thanks to the experience and I regret nothing!

The holidays and their mix of crazy hit and I did more nothing.

The new year came and I awoke to 2014 with the grand desire to finally, finally start caring about myself and after a month-long free pass, joined a local gym. In the process I went to my first water aerobics class (meh, the instructor's pretty boring), first Jazzersise class (holy crap talk about cardio!), and discovered my newest addiction: Racquetball (the hitting part, the running all over the court about killed me).

I participated in Nicole's Obsession Lab, DO IT! Seriously, do it if you need to reawaken that passion project you've been putting off. Not only did I meet some amazing people (see the Writer's Lab button on the right) but the tools and lessons Nicole gave us were just wonderful. It's one of the reasons I'm writing to you right now. Thanks Nicole!!

Let's see anything else? Oh, like my new header? I designed it myself thanks to a couple Skillshare classes. I've got a long way to go, but I love it!

Gotta run, I'm heading to the Bay Area for work, but I promise to be back very soon.

Thanks for sticking around.

The Deep Dark

Hi.

I know, yet another apology for not being a good blogger. Can I even really call myself a blogger? Once upon a time maybe, but not now.

I've been down in the dumps. Feeling very much like a zombie. I've been on the verge of tears for about a month now but nothing comes out. Granted, it's not a constant state of depression, I can actually laugh and have a good time (especially when my niece and nephew are around) but it only seems to make the Deep Dark even more oppressing once the fun times are over.

I worry that this one will never go away. I've been sleeping a lot. My house is a mess, I'm starting to realize just how quickly out of hand things can get and why/how people become hoarders. I keep making these grand plans that "This weekend will be the one!" where I roll up my sleeves and get everything spotless. Then I wake up, look at the cat hair floating in every corner, the dishes piled stinky in the sink and just don't know where to start so I give up after 15 minutes and "take a break" in the form of a two hour nap.

Well that's me in a mini update.

Thanks for stopping by.

Just hanging on!

Holy. Crazy. Pantsville.

Hi.

Yes, I'm still alive. TONS of stuff has been going on. Almost all great stuff. One thing in particular I CAN NOT WAIT to tell you all about.

First things first: I can now be called a winning grant writer! That's right my partner and I were informed last week that two of the grants we'd applied for had been awarded to our client! Squeeeee!!!!!!!

Second: I've been so busy trying to keep up with the all the demands of my second (non-paying as of yet) job that I've had no time to do pretty much anything. You should see my house. I mean, I'm never going to be able to let anyone in, they would probably turn me in for being a hoarder. OK, not really, but it's pretty bad. I've been making cleaning a priority this week and only have the floors and Mt. Laundry left to tackle.

Third: I totally used Facebook to flirt with a guy from High School. I ran into him at the annual town festival and my cousin who was visiting at the time told me I should have been bold. Well let me have a keyboard, monitor and miles of internet between me and someone and I'll be as bold as all get-out. Haven't gotten a response...

But let's not dwell. Let's rejoice that even though its hotter than blazes around here I have a lovely pool to jump into whenever I want. That's good enough for me for now.

Cheerio old chums! I'll be back soon(ish) with some pretty exciting news!

Bad, bad blogger.

Would you believe me if I told you that I have about a dozen unfinished drafts of blogs that I never finished or posted? Yeeeeeah.

Not quite sure what the problem is. Yes, I started a business without quitting my full-time job so that severely limits my free time. It doesn't help that my biz partner lives 90 minutes away so a couple Saturdays a month I schlep half-way to her so we can camp out at Starbucks for hours and get lots of work done.

My house is a pig sty. Not even kidding, I'm a messy girl but when my fantasies start revolving around getting everything put away so I can mop the floor, you know its out of control. I did manage to conquer Mt. Laundry* a couple weeks back so that felt pretty good.

Things are looking up though. We recently sent out an invoice and were able to note that we had completed 67% of the project. That felt great! It will feel even better when I can deposit 67% of our fee into the bank.

Don't get me wrong, the biz is doing awesome, we started almost 8 months ago with nothing but a couple of laptops and some moxie so I'd say we're doing great.

In other news, I signed up for Brandgasm 101! I am CRAZY excited to learn more about design and copy-writing. I know just enough about both to be dangerous so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get myself back into the swing of things. It didn't hurt that I talked my partner into letting the business pay for it since I could use my newly acquired skills for our own truly terrible website. So terrible in fact that I won't even link to it here.

Stay tuned for further updates!

Sometimes I forget...

How hard it was to let my Echo go. Especially when I'm cruising the pets section of Craiglist to ooh and ahh over the pictures of adorable kittens. Luckily, I don't forget about the littlerbox or cat hair covering every item of clothing I own so it keeps me from actually getting another cat.

That I've started a business with a friend and have actually gotten paid by clients. What?! Was it a dream? Oh wait, it wasn't. Remembering comes in handy when I find myself wondering what I'm doing with my life and bemoaning the fact that I'm about to turn 35 and have no husband or kids like the majority of my peers.

That I have a weak stomach and things like spit-up and poop gross me out. Remembering this helps with the last one. Makes me glad that I'm the only mess-maker in my house, and I'm REALLY good at making messes. I imagine the city would intervene if a kid's mess were added to my own.

That I have this blog. Oops. I'm working on getting back into the swing of things. 

Just how awesome I am. I mean it. I have amazing friends, a HUGE loving family and a God that loves me in spite of myself. I'm pretty freaking blessed.