300 posts and an annoucement!

I'm pretty much focusing all my efforts on Campfire Chic lately. I'm working on my branding, stocking my shop, and I even had a few custom orders in the past two months :)

Last week I hit 50 blog followers! It was thrilling. I also made the front page of Etsy, which is EPIC in and of itself!

In celebration of still being self-employed and gaining a foothold in the crafty community, 

I'm having a giveaway!!!

Head on over and enter the giveaway. You may find that the Campfire Chic blog is much more interesting than this one ;)

In other news, this is my 300th blog post. Three hundred posts documenting mi vida since I graduated college. It documents my summers at Alex's house, job searching, graduate school, traveling to Hawaii/Seattle/Chicago/Oregon and a handful of places in between. I'm really happy I kept it up (for the most part) over the past three summers.

Photos

I got a new phone about a month ago. I'm not the type of person to have a new phone every few months, this is my fourth phone in ten years. Yes, FOUR in TEN. What a trooper.

Anyway, this is a smart phone so the first thing I did was get recommendations about cool photo apps. Vignette has my heart so far. My last post had an example of the effects that the app does to photos, and here are a few more:

 

Galaxy vs. Real Madrid Photos

Another One Bites the Dust.

Another 25 before I turn 25 out of the way! Here's a recap:

25 before I turn 25

1. Learn how to reupholster a chair.
2. Catch up on my scrapbooking.
3. Learn to develop my own film.
4. Finish Watchmen.
5. Pick my own apples.
6. Get a Lifetime Alumni membership to CSUF.
7. Get a REAL haircut.
8. Get my Nikon professionally cleaned.
9. Paint something on the three canvases I have in my room for over a year now.
10. Go to the Old Zoo in Griffith Park.
11. Learn to make pad-see-ew.
12. Learn to make sushi.
13. Delete my MySpace.
14. Make a pinata.
15. Learn to compost.
16. Get my hiking millage up to 50 miles.
17. Throw a dinner party.
18. Buy a frame for my diplomas.
19. Get a passport.
20. Re-read the Harry Potter Series.
21. Learn to make pasta from scratch.
22. Open an Etsy account
23. Plant a tree.
24. Get a job in Student Affairs! (Also a new years resolution/goal)
25. Paint a piece of furniture a (not-so) crazy color like teal or lime green.


Now that I read these, I wish I wasn't so ambitious! I've completed 3/25 and I only have 8 months left to get the rest done. I should step it up!


In other news, I created a "Bookworm" page for the blog. It houses most of the books I've read over the past few years. It's not complete, I really want to set up one of those Amazon accounts, I think.

Hunger Games Trilogy

File this one under: Must have.

Moments ago, I finished the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire. Now, before I go into this, I have to admit that I'm fighting myself right now. I want to pre-order the third book, Mocking Jay, since the price is so low, but being broke makes me hesistate.

Before we continue, if I haven't told you this before you need to know this now: I judge YA books by their cover. It's worked for me in the past, and it will keep working for me. Example 1: Uglies Series, my hand reached for it because the front image spans the entire book cover, and I became obsessed. Example 2: Wasn't feeling the Twilight book cover, hate the series. There you go. That's all the evidence you really need.

Okay. Enough.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Genres: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Science Fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult
Read this if you liked: The Uglies Series, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, Running Out of Time, City of Ember

In a nut shell: The world as we know it doesn't exist. The main character, Katniss, lives in District 12 of Panem. She's rebellious but does it to keep her family alive. Her best friend is Gale, and they're pretty much inseparable. The Hunger Games are every year. Two representatives from each District are expected to play to the death in these games. Did I mention the representatives are under 18? Think Lord of the Flies meets Survivor (the tv show) meets Battle Royal with weapons.

Advice: When you are halfway through the book, or so, if you see that you're going to be in this for the long haul, buy the second book asap, but do not read the back of the book. You'll regret not having it on hand when you finish the first. I went nuts when I finished the first and it was too late to go to a bookstore to buy the second. So I bought the Kindle edition...yes, I PAID for a Kindle book. Thank you Wispersync for getting that wild look out of my eyes.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Genres: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Science Fiction
Target Audience: Young Adult
Read this if you liked: The Hunger Games

In a nut shell: I'll try not to spoil things. The book begins a little slower than the first book, but I promise it is for a reason! There is more at stake in this book than the first. Lies are told, threats made, and District 12 is very different in this book than we last saw it in the first book. Seems shorter than the first book, I think it's actually 40 pages long, go figure. Survival means more than staying alive.

Journaling for a Cause

For updates on my progress with Journaling for a Cause, check out my other blog: Campfire Chic

Book Reivews

I finished two books recently, which fulfills my summer reading goal!

5 Books by September 22, 2010 (Summer Resolution/Goal)
1. The Dragon Heir
2. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Globally, Locally, and Online
5. Flirt

I really, really enjoyed The Handmade Marketplace! Alex bought it for me in Santa Monica a few weeks ago and I went to town on it. I learned so much and I have a huge to-do list because of this book...and I have a mini to-read list, too! If you're looking to sell something, it's a great book to read.

*Warning: Rant*

Flirt. *sigh* Anita Blake, book 18..EIGHTEEN? Yes, I've read them all. After book 7 or 8 the series takes a sharp left and it's a bumpy ride...some of the books, the kinds meant to "hold you over" until the next book, tested my loyalty but I've stuck to it. If you look up this book and the few books before it, and compare them to the first books in the series, you'll notice that the reviews have shifted drastically.

Imagine how pissed I was to pre-order a HARDCOVER book only to find out I just bought a book that's only about 170 pages, that's not a novel, that's a novella! I was able to read it in one day...not because it was intriguing and I just had to finish, but because it's so short! the last few pages of the book talk about her "writing process" and a comic. wtf.

Next complaint: The Writing Process portion and the comic portion simply re-told part of the book where Anita and some of the men in her life (I really can't count how many are in her bed now) are in a restaurant and they talk about flirting. Did she really need to tell the story about how she came up with that scene? I just read it! If you decide to read the utterly uninteresting story behind the scene, grab a sandwhich and lock up your guns. The comic in the back? TELLS THE SAME STORY, ONLY WITH CARTOONS. Really?? The story wasn't that interesting to begin with! It's like sitting through a slideshow of somebody's trip to Europe after reading their blog and going through their facebook photos while they were gone...I've seen this before, you've told this story before...

I'm hoping to find a used copy of Bullet (which came out so soon after Flirt that I thought I went into a coma and lost a year of my life). This is the first book in the series that I didn't get immediately (once I caught up on the initial books), and I feel that says a lot. Laurell K. Hamilton has gone back to her writing group and is apparently taking a little more time with the upcoming book, hopefully she sticks to that.

Self-Employment

 

I've been self-employed for three weeks now :)

The student affairs in me is constantly thinking, "this will be great on my resume!" and "Oh! I better put this on my resume!"

1. Multi-tasking
2. Marketing
3. Google Analytics
4. Social Networking-more than just being a spambot
5. Developing a Brand
6. Results Oriented
7. Responsibility-a whole new kind, at that!
8. Self-Motivated/Disciplined
9. Setting and Meeting Deadlines
10. Creativity-doing lots with nothing
11. Domestic and International Sales

In addition to my Etsy shop, I opened an Artfire store today! You can read my blog post about it here.

I'm operating three Twitter accounts these days and making some great connections. I also have two blogs, two and a half Facebook pages. I'm having a blast! It really is a full time job.

I also want to take the time to say THANK YOU to all my friends who have supporting me through this! Between spamming your friends, checking out my items and giving me feedback, or not calling me crazy, you all mean the world to me. Thank you doesn't even cut it :)

July is here!

 

I'm so excited for this month!

Here are a few things I have on my calendar:

1. Alex's dad returns from a month-long trip in Egypt. (Sometime this week, not really sure when)
2.  7/11 Rose Bowl Swap Meet
3. 7/18 LA Flea Market
4. 7/24 Comic Con!!
5. 7/25 Renegade Craft Fair

It may not sound like a lot, but I'm really excited :)

A Month Later

I've been out of school for about a month now. Time is moving quickly and slowly at the same time. It's bizarre. I've had two school-related nightmares, you know the ones...#1 I didn't register for classes and had a nightmare of a time trying to crash classes I needed to graduate and #2 I didn't stay organized (very unlike me) and I didn't know when a huge assignment was due and when exams were going to start. Needless to say, I hope these dreams go away some day!

Now that it has been a month, and I've been slower to update my blog, I feel it's time to do another update on my resolutions/goals. Ready for this?

Learn to knit crochet: Not only learn, but make two projects. I learned how to make a basic granny square and a tri-color granny square. I put the single color squares on the backburner while I focus on the tri-color ones to make a cute blanket :)

 Do four cross stitches: #1 3 Stockings, #2 Little Birdy, #3 Cute Dino, #4 Floppy Disk, #5 Campers Do It Under the Stars, #6 Vintage Lantern
 
 Read five books for pleasure: See below.

5 Books by December 31, 2010 (New Year's Resolution/Goal)
1. The Warrior Heir
2. The Wizard Heir
3. The Dragon Heir
4. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
5. Beauty and the Beast

5 Books by September 22, 2010 (Summer Resolution/Goal)
1. The Dragon Heir
2. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
3. Beauty and the Beast

 Visit 2 National Parks: SEKI is done! What will the next one be?

Get As in both classes: Well, poo. An A and an A-.

Get a job in the Student Affairs field: Still searching. Had an on campus interview, got invited on campus, had some phone interviews, submitted more applications.

Get my hair cut at a real salon: It's now been two years without a hair cut.

Eat less hot pockets: Done and Done.

Get a physical: Nope. Not yet.

Hit 100 Geocache finds this year: I'm at 55 right now, halfway there! 

25 before I turn 25

1. Learn how to reupholster a chair.
2. Catch up on my scrapbooking.
3. Learn to develop my own film.
4. Finish Watchmen.
5. Pick my own apples.
6. Get a Lifetime Alumni membership to CSUF.
7. Get a REAL haircut. <---Hmmm, a resolution/goal AND a 25before25? Must be on my mind!
8. Get my Nikon professionally cleaned.
9. Paint something on the three canvases I have in my room for over a year now.
10. Go to the Old Zoo in Griffith Park.
11. Learn to make pad-see-ew.
12. Learn to make sushi.
13. Delete my MySpace.
14. Make a pinata.
15. Learn to compost.
16. Get my hiking millage up to 50 miles.
17. Throw a dinner party.
18. Buy a frame for my diplomas.
19. Get a passport.
20. Re-read the Harry Potter Series.
21. Learn to make pasta from scratch.
22. Open an Etsy account
23. Plant a tree.
24. Get a job in Student Affairs! (Also a new years resolution/goal)
25. Paint a piece of furniture a (not-so) crazy color like teal or lime green.



Well, there it is! I'm making some progress, that's for sure.