Jojo Passed Away, September 2, 2010

Well, I guess I can finally write about it. It's true he was very old and in bad shape but it's still sad when you come to the realization that you'll never see your dog again. I keep thinking of his healthier days, and I miss him. There is a growing part of me that is glad he is finally at rest, though. It was painful to accept at first.

Unfortunately the way I found out really sucks. Billy was going to wait until he came home from work to tell me; he even bought a bottle of wine for me. But one of his aunts texted me around 3pm saying how she was sorry about Jojo, and helped bury him. WOW. I bawled my eyes out, and texted back,

I didn't know that he had passed away, now I got to find out through a text message.

But some people don't know how to apologize for anything. They always have to bite first. So of course what does she do. Not a simple, "Sorry, I thought you knew." Nope, she has to go and try to make me feel guilty about her husband who has cancer. Really? Why would you even bring that up? My dog just died. So basically you're saying that my sadness for my dog dying doesn't compare to what you're going through.

She of course had to make the situation about her. Sorry that I haven't dealt with what she's going through. My dog dying is a big deal for me. I don't understand why some people have to be that way. Sure I feel horrible about what she's going through, but why would she even bring that up?

I cried the rest of the day, and I'm sure it will bring tears to my eyes on some random future day, when I sit in the backyard and remember Jojo walking around or playing catch (slowly, of course lol. He was still around 10 when Billy & I got married). I will definitely miss him.

Blog Dump 7/22/2010-8/20/2010

I've been writing in my MacJournal and forgetting to upload onto here. I guess I'll add a few highlights:

My Mind is All over the place
 July 22, 2010
I feel like I don't have time for anything. I feel like I have a million things to do! I need to make a list but right now I don't have time!

July 23, 2010
Yesterday I took Beasley to the vet and I wish I hadn't! A waste of $20. He has a lump on his side, so the doc looked at it, they weighed him, and he told me to just watch the lump and make sure it doesn't get bigger. :P WASTE.

Last night Billy surprised me and bought the Serah Farron wig! I'm so happy. It was completely unexpected! We were at the cookout last night after the Hurricanes game (which they lost to Cals) and he was on his phone as usual. He asked me what the paypal id/password was so I gave it to him, not even thinking anything about the wig. I thought he was buying something golf-related haha. Well, he puts his phone in his pocket and tells me he bought the wig! Crazy! :) I'm really excited about it.

Today I really need to work on Dana's present! Time is going by so fast. Their anniversary is on August 1.

Jeffrey's graduation is on Saturday. I have no idea what to get him. I guess some $$ haha. That's all a graduate wants anyways! 

July 24, 2010
Jeffrey's graduation was today. At Munden Point Park out in the middle of nowhere. The place was beautiful, right on the water, but the heat was absolutely unbearable. My face was covered in a layer of shiny sweat. My hair looked horrible, and my crappy skin really added to the wonderful look I had going. Every time I went to the bathroom I looked a thousand times worse.

This whole skin problem+bad hair+weight gain is really getting me down. I've never had so many (shallow) physical issues at once. I hate it. I look like crap. I'm only 23 and I already have smile line wrinkles. They are sooo ugly.

So, things I'm doing to help my appearance improve:

● Using Neutrogena On-the-Spot acne cream.
● Using Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-wrinkle Anti-blemish face wash.
● Doing Pilates.
● Doing a Self Magazine Butt Busting workout. It's 45 min long and I'm still sore from it!

I really like doing pilates, and I hope I keep it up. I feel so relaxed after I'm done. The session I did today actually made me sweat, though. I was really focusing on trying to do the moves in the most effective way possible.

Well, tomorrow I really need to work since I didn't do any work at all today. That sucks. I'm super behind schedule now.

I'm still excited that my Serah wig is coming in :) I just can't believe it! I've wanted it for so long. Today I borrowed some glue and metallic amethyst paint for the leg attachment. The middle part is pearl color and it's encased in gold. Well, I have metallic silver and purple paint, so I guess I'll mix the silver with yellow and the purple with ehh white?? What color IS pearl exactly?? It's like, white+pink+purple, right?

 July 29, 2010
Today is Thursday and we're leaving for Buffalo in a few hours. We're all meeting at our house. Billy and I are riding up with my parents. We're going up for Grandma & Grandpa's anniversary/family reunion. Yeah what sucks is all I have are some old contacts and a bunch of zits on my face haha Not to mention I've gained weight :P Ohh well. Right now I don't really give a crap because I have my period. Which also kind of sucks because I'm not even supposed to have my period yet. I guess my body hasn't gotten used to the change yet.

The past couple of days Jojo was with us. It was really depressing. He can barely walk, I have to help/carry him up and down the stairs, we have to hand feed him, including when he drinks. He's completely incontinent and has to wear a diaper. He can't hear or see very well. I feel so bad. When Norma came to pick him up this morning she was so angry at her mother. She feels it's inhumane to keep Jojo alive in this condition. His health has declined so much since I've seen him last. It made me want to cry every time I watched him.

Monday morning I met with Sister Franklin at the library to discuss her website. What's funny is she completely forgot about our meeting and had met for service and just happened to come to the library with Carmen to do letter writing! She was so embarrassed. I finished her logo this week and I think it looks awesome. I'm really excited about this.

For the trip I'm going to be working on the face of the hannari tofu pillow I'm making for Dana & Zach's present. I also brought a little mamegoma plushie to work on. I'm glad we're leaving in the daytime so I will actually be able to do something.

Well, it's 11:04AM now. The house is cleaned, our bags are packed, and the dogs are wrestling lol. Billy is supposed to meet Kevin here at 11:30 so I'm sure he'll be home soon.

I'm wearing my glasses right now and I hate it...my eyes look so tiny :( But I just can't stand to wear those contacts for long hours, and there's no way I'm going to wear those horrible things on the trip up there. They are just too old. It feels like little pieces of sandpaper in my eyes when I wear them. When we get back I really need to go to the eye doctor. I'm so embarrassed though that I never went and picked up my contacts from them...I don't even know what to say.

August 1, 2010
We just got home from Buffalo. It's about 8:30pm. I had a really good time; some low moments when Billy and my parents left me to play golf. Actually, everyone left and I was left at Aunt Helga's. Uncle Rick was outside mowing the grass and I was all alone. That was on Friday. Saturday morning the guys went out to play golf again and mom stayed home for me. We ended up sitting on the front porch together; their yard was beautiful and the air was the perfect temperature. We went wine tasting to three different wineries. It was such a pretty day. The dinner party was at 4. I had fun talking with Rachael and Nicole since we're all cosplayers. Need I say more.. They invited me to LA and to Comicon and Anime Expo. That would be really awesome. They both kept saying I should live in CA lol. I was like, yes..i know. Grandma and Grandpa gave us all such a generous present. It really helps a lot. Traveling is really expensive!

Well, my wig was shipped on Friday the 30th and it is now Sunday. It says on the site that shipping can take from 7-30 days. I'm so excited! August 6th will be the seventh day but I won't get my hopes up. I definitely will keep my eye out, because I don't want the wig sitting out in the heat or rain. The 6th is on Friday. Coming all the way from Hong Kong. But wow it was processed by NY this evening at 6pm! That's really fast shipping.

August 16, 2010
Oh wow, a lot has happened in 15 days. We went to Grandma & Grandpa's anniversary up in Buffalo. It was fun.

My skin has gotten so much better. It was actually completely clear a couple days ago, but then I broke out again. But nothing on the scale that it was. Mostly on my chin. I really think the Neutrogena products helped to relieve me of that horrible breakout so fast.

And now I am trying something new. Apple cider vinegar, supposedly helps with many things. Today is day one. I mixed two tablespoons with a cup of Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Black Tea and two tablespoons of honey. It's definitely got a tang to it, but it's not bad at all. I can taste the apple flavoring and it seems very full of spice. I am only going to be drinking this once a day, since apple cider vinegar is, of course, very acidic. But it's supposed to help with stomach problems/digestion, colds, allergies, and other things. I have all of those right now. I have a cold I can't shake, but I'm not sure if it's allergies or not. My stomach has been messed up again for the past couple days. I'll see if it does any good.

I've also really been trying to work out more. I went back to the "Your Best Butt Fast" video by Self magazine. That workout is fun and challenging for me. I am also doing a pilates workout that I like, but isn't that challenging. I still have very little flexibility, though, so that's where it's hard for me.

The wig came in a while ago. It's really nice, took me forever to style it! The only problem is they styled it the opposite way of Serah's hair :( And it's a little thin, but other than that it's pretty and the perfect color. I also have been working on the necklace and have the spiral and orb finished. There is still so much to be done :/ But it's only August so I'm not really going to worry about that. At least the costume itself is done :P Cheater! Though I am reallly happy with the quality. Milanoo.com is definitely on my Fav list.

I'm almost finished with Loretta's website. I just have to write up/edit her mission statement. Mike came over today and brought us dirt/info for his website. I told him two weeks, so the deadline is August 30th, the end of this month. I'm excited to work on websites. It's really fun. I also ordered my business cards; can't wait for those to come in. I hope they turn out ok.

Oh and I have a business checkcard with Wachovia now! I'm excited about that :) It's nice to see "Neutral Ocean Design" on there.

I drove to the eye doctor today to pick up my trial lenses. They feel really good; different brand than I'm used to. They're also HUGE. They look kind of weird because they're so big and visible,  I guess because they're really thick.

Ok, so some effects I notice already from the apple cider vinegar is the feeling in my mouth and throat. This stuff is extremely acidic. I might just try two tablespoons in a huge glass of water instead. I actually got myself a glass of water too cuz it's so intense.

August 17, 2010
It's amazing how much those old contacts were messing with my eyes. I didn't realize how swollen and puffy my eyelids were until now that they're not. I can't even feel these lenses on my eyes and I keep expecting to.

It's also amazing how long it takes me to eat my breakfast. It's 9:00 right now. I got up at 7. And the oatmeal and herb apple cider vinegar tea is still sitting on the table.

It's all due to that stupid super hero game on Facebook. But I need to focus. I need to work on my website. Seriously. Actually, on my business in general. I set up my email account through fatcow so I'm so happy the jaclyn@neutralocean.com email works! Who knows how much I missed out because stupid gmail wasn't letting me receive emails!!!

Yesterday I edited all of the pictures Mike gave me. I picked out the coolest theme ever. Seriously. It's amazing. Possibly too amazing. It's not cheap either, well compared to others on ThemeForest, but the features are off the hook. I sent Mike a long email so hopefully he sends some info back to me this time. I want to have his site up by this weekend.

I also need to workout today. It annoys me so much that for some reason I never work out on Mondays. I want to be working out five times a week and I haven't yet done it. Oh well.

I need to create proposals for design work and web work. Also, the web content worksheet and a general questionnaire. I also need to write up my prices and descriptions. But stop talking about it and just DO IT!!

August 18, 2010
Shoveling porridge down my throat, drinking the acv+herb tea and a cup of water. Unfortunately I've fallen back into constipation for the last week or so. It made me gain two pounds and I'm all crampy and bloaty. Soo annoying.

Beasley has surgery tomorrow to remove his cyst. I took him in yesterday and Dr. Pope said we should have it removed. It looks really gross and has doubled in size in one month. Beasley keeps picking at it and the doc gave him antibiotics because the thing looks infected. Hopefully all goes well.

Man my guts are really annoying me. If I had healthy guts I bet I could easily get back to 100 lbs. I got down to 105 but now because of this I'm back at 107. 23, 107 lbs. I guess it's not that bad. I hate it, though. Actually, it's not the weight. I want to be in better shape. More toned and have a stronger core, which will help with my sciatica and back pain. Unfortunately it's painful for me to workout because my knees are so messed up. Stupid hockey. I'm glad I quit.

August 20, 2010
I picked up poor baby Beas from the vet yesterday. He had surgery to remove a tumor on his right side. He was really out of it yesterday but is doing much better today. I can tell the area is giving him a lot of pain, though. I mean, there are 13 stitches in that thing. It's a big cut.

Well, I think I really need to focus on positives instead of negatives all the time. It's so unhealthy for me! Like, it got me really down yesterday when I went to minor emergency and stood on the scale and it read 108.8 lb. But I shouldn't focus on that. I should focus on the fact that the apple cider vinegar has already started to curb my appetite. That the Neutrogena products have really cleared up my skin so much. 

eye infection?

But this eye thing really does suck. Every time I put my contacts in bright red veins start spreading out from the inner corner of my right eye. It's painful. They gave me two prescription eye drops. One is so thick and gooey; it's disgusting and all over my eyelid. Keeps getting on my glasses. I think I'm going to get an eye patch today so that I can at least wear a contact in my good eye. Plus, I don't want people to get grossed out by my eye haha.

I think tonight we're going to the movies with Keith. The Steins got in town yesterday, so I'm sure we will see them this weekend. It just sucks we can't bring Beasley. I don't really want to leave him for that long.

I really need to start working out five days a week. I missed Monday and Thursday. It's 9:55 right now, and I'm about to force myself to do a challenging kickboxing boot-camp workout lol. I do need to get in shape, though. All of my body has gotten really soft and mushy, especially my "pooch" area. It hangs over all my pants ew! And not to mention all of my pants and shorts are really tight on me now, what the heck.... Such a dramatic change so fast. In one year I've gained about 10 lbs! And I absolutely hate it. I don't know if I could ever be pregnant just because of how much I loathe any weight on me. And just for me to say that I obviously haven't reached the self-sacrificing motherly role yet. I don't know if I ever will.

Home-made Curtains & Some Design Work

Last night I made the window curtain; it took me 3.5 hours hehe I don't think it's that bad considering I've never made curtains before! Well, I am very proud with how they turned out. Today I bought a curtain rod and installed the window treatment at the house. It took me a half hour to finish everything, including hanging up his matching shower curtain. I wish I would have taken a picture straight on instead of at an angle, but oh well!

Tubbs Pro Wallpapering Design Work
Over the weekend I did a lot of organic SEO and gave her some options for PPC campaigns. She hasn't answered me back yet. Today I designed a comment card for her to give to her customers to fill out. I recommended she have them printed by Overnight Prints. They are my favorite printing company; they're affordable and deliver quality work. I think the comment card would be a nice touch for her company blog, because all she'll have to do is scan them into her computer and upload them.

On a different note, I have a game tonight and am not really looking forward to it. Last weeks game was AWEFUL.. We had an awesome sub goalie but none of our good offensive players were there and we were playing the best team in the league. We were in our zone the ENTIRE game. Fortunately, we were able to have two lines of D or I would have died lol. We were already dying by the end of the first period haha. The forwards kept complaining because they only had one sub but I was like, "You do realize, this entire game has been in Our zone."... Anyways, now I'm done venting about that haha. That's not even the reason I don't feel like going tonight :D I'm just being lazy. In all actuality, I don't really care about winning or losing, but when your team sucks THAT bad it's not even fun anymore :( 

Kai Cosplay & Chibi-Con Update

Well, I've been pretty busy working on my Kai costume, since there's going to be a small, one day con in Virginia Beach at the end of this month. It's called Chibi Con and will be held at the Virginia Beach Public Library. Here is the location info taken from the website, http://www.chibi-con.com/ :


Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Venue: Virginia Beach Central Library (Conference rooms area)
4100 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
When: April 30, 2010
9:00 AM - 4:50 pm  

The one day con, which is free, features panels, guest voice actors, and a music artist. I just can't believe it's free! I feel they should have asked for, like, 5 bucks or something! Unfortunately, it is on a Friday, And ends at 5, so that kinda sucks. Maybe we can plan dinner in Town Center. And yes, I will be in a Kai costume. In Town Center. LOL...

Here are some pictures; the hat is 95% complete; make-up practice:

My First Seamstress Job

My mom was working for a friend yesterday, hanging wallpaper in two bathrooms and helping out with the decor; she bought two, beautiful cloth shower curtains for the first bathroom and came up with the idea to use the second as a curtain for the window. She informed him that I was "into sewing" and that I could make a valance for the window. Well, I got the "job", went to the house to take measurements, and have the shower curtain sitting next to me now.

The fabric is very pretty; 100% polyester gold fabric with a subtle pattern of squares. I plan on completing the valance this weekend.

Jillian Michaels Cardio & Strength Training All-in-One

So I noticed that I've started developing a "pooch". I absolutely loathe this thing. On my Cable network, there's an entire FreeZone and part of that is a Health & Fitness section. I was pleased to find some Jillian Michaels workout videos and decided to try one out. The one I tried was a fast-paced, no resting circuit that's about 20 minutes long. And it absolutely kicked my butt. I used 5 lb weights and ended up straining my left bicep muscle. I couldn't straighten my arm for the next 3 days!

Now, to give you some background on myself, I'm 22 years old, 5'3", 102 lbs, and have an athletic build (my way of saying I have small boobs lol). I play ice hockey in a local men's league. It's not like I'm that out of shape, but for some reason I strained my muscle with only 5 lbs! Sad really...

Well, that was a couple weeks ago, and I feel like everything's healed up. I did the workout again yesterday but instead of weights used Wii remote controls LOL. I've decided to take it slower this time, and build up my muscle a little more before just jumping into it. There are push-ups included in the workout so my biceps are still getting worked. It's just really weird how weak my upper body is! 5 POUNDS?! Really??

But besides that, her workouts are really awesome, and the one I did still kicked my butt, even without weights. I definitely know that if I'm going to do this, though, I'm going to have to increase my calorie intake. I don't need to lose weight, but I need to gain muscle. I guess this is why I've been craving eggs and potatoes like crazy :P

Focusing On Web Design, In a Nutshell :P

Well, I decided before reading the entire InDesign book, I've decided to go with this one. Everything seems to be going to web, and I need to learn more. I've had this book for a while now (it was a requirement for one of my classes, though we never even opened it) and I decided that it was time to read the thing.

I finished Chapter 1 last night. I'm planning on reading a chapter a day, but I haven't even started on Chapter 2 yet and it's already 4 pm! (Typical me.)

I really like the way this book is set up; it's separated into the layers of web design: structural, presentation, and behavioral. Chapter 1 starts off with basically everything I need to know and ever want to know about the history of web standards, the browser wars, and the different organizations that are trying to push things forward. It also offers a lot of references for further reading. One in particular that I would like to check out is the ietf.org website. IETF is the Internet Engineering Task Force, and on their site you can find out new technologies that are currently in development. I haven't checked it out yet, and you probably will before I do XD

More Ideas :P

Well, I created an account on Etsy and put my shop together. I even wrote my shop policy and everything :-) Of course, I'm not selling anything yet. I have to make everything first!

I've researched shipping and stuff and decided to go with USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Shipping. My first set of small boxes came in the other day. I also ordered medium, though, for scoodies and other larger items. I also need to design some cute tags with my logo and info on it, and info unique to each item. I think that would be a nice touch. I want each item to be sealed in a plastic bag, but also make a nice looking fabric gift bag to put it in. Fortunately, I'm going to be making items that can't really break (unless your dog gets ahold of it) so I don't have to worry about packing peanuts, bubble mailers, etc.

Ok, so maybe I think too much. And when did I become such a planner?? Wait. I forgot that I was never the spontaneous one who just jumps into things. That was my parents lol. I have always put way too much thought into things! What's funny is, the one thing I'm not thinking about or worried about is if people buy my items. If I don't sell anything, then I'll just end up having a lot of cute stuff! XD Or I would probably be giving a lot of cute gifts to my friends..

So I think for my first set of items (on etsy it's pay per item post, like some change, less than a dollar) I'm going to make another panda scoodie (because I love mine), a white fox scoodie (can you tell i only have b&w fleece left lol), a panda hat (I really love pandas..o well), and some cute cell phone cozies.

I'm actually kind of nervous when I actually think about putting my items up there, because I'm really a perfectionist when it comes to making something for someone else. To the point where it could discourage me from even making anything. Lol yeah, I'm weird. I just have to not worry about that and have fun with this. What's nice is on etsy I think you get to post four or five pictures of your item, so they'll see every angle and know what they're buying. If it's not perfect enough for them they just won't buy it!

It's Been Awhile...

I've finished a few little projects here and there, but I've actually been busy working for my friend's design company. Unfortunately, my mom is still on the I.R. due to her recent knee surgery, so I'm not sure when we'll be working together again.

(Side note: I'm not sure if I've talked about this at all. My mom tore her ACL, (it's in the knee, google it lol), and had to have surgery to repair it. Pretty major surgery, too. She's still in a lot of pain, and I think the surgery took place either the beginning of this month or end of last month. She's in physical therapy now, also. So, as you can imagine, she won't be working for a while since we hang wallpaper and paint, Tubbs Pro.com . I don't think she would have a nice time walking up and down a ladder all day..)

Little Sewing Projects

This was kind of a while ago,  and I can't even remember if I posted a picture of the little guy! It's a rice ball wrapped with a piece of seaweed (onigiri). It's pretty small, about the size of your hand, but I also am making a big one out of fleece that I need to finish. I gave this little guy to my friend.

I made this cell phone pouch for my new phone -the HTC Hero! (Can you tell that I love it? haha)

It's pretty much the cutest thing ever, and I received many compliments on FB. Hmm maybe I will set up an Etsy shop.... The tarepanda head is my wallet lol.

Finally Hit the Slopes

Last week we joined my parents at their timeshare in Massanutten. The conditions were pretty good, not too much ice and nice weather. I'm sure Snowshoe has some sweet powder, though. They've been getting hammered. This is my ride, which is actually a Ride board. It's fairly new, a lot longer than my old board, and I felt some drag in the front. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though.

The design is pretty cool, but I'm disappointed in the placement. That cool cat just ripped of the head of a mouse and has the body in its mouth. But the head is placed right beneath the binding! And I had to get a clear stomp pad just so you can see the cat... Ugh like I said, really poor placement guys!

M'Liss is Awesome

Kimono Art Quilt, originally uploaded by M'Liss Rae Hawley.

Check out this quilt she made. It's so intricate and beautiful. I can't imagine how much time it took to make this work of art.

I really love her fabric line at Hancock Fabrics, too. You should definitely check it out if you like cute patterns :D

Fostering a Puppy & Being a Nurse

So, here's the story:

My cousin was driving home at about 11PM and suddenly saw two little white paws in the middle of the road. He hit the brakes, and got out to find a shivering, starving little puppy sitting in the middle of the road. His ribs and spine were very visible beneath his dirty fur, his stomach was horribly distended, and the puppy's nails were extremely long. He was so malnourished that his entire body was cramped to one side; he could barely walk. My cousin took the puppy to my parents' house, where my cousin is currently residing, and gave the puppy a bath and trimmed his nails. This took place about a week ago, on Friday night.

I'm fostering him now, and he's doing so much better. He's actually acting like a puppy now! I even made him a little fleece jacket since it's been so cold outside.

I took him to the vet on January 28th, and he has a high amount of intestinal parasites, so we'll get that taken care of this week. He was also put on Amforol tablets for loose stools, and it has definitely helped. Hopefully, I can find this sweet little guy a home.

Aiding my Mom in Her Recovery

Yesterday, my mom had surgery on her knee. She had a torn ACL and a tear in the meniscus. She's doing well, and today I have to go pick her up from the hospital and be her nurse for the next couple of days. I know she's going to be in a lot of pain, but I have to make sure she does her exercises every hour. Well, I better go get ready for the day!

The Journey Has Only Just Begun...

 I decided that I really need to focus on expanding my knowledge and skills of design, so I'm starting with one of the programs that I learned in school - InDesign. I have Sandee Cohen's book, Visual Quickstart Guide: InDesign CS3,  and I really want to just go through the whole thing and learn everything about InDesign. I feel like my classes just skimmed the surface.

Actually, I feel like every single class I took just skimmed the surface, that's why I'm determined to start studying on my own now (which I should have been doing all along but I'm a slacker). I feel like I don't know all my programs like the back of my hand like I should. I've been using them since high school so to not know everything about them by now is just...sad.

So anyways, my InDesign book has 21 chapters. If I do a chapter a day that's only 21 days to go through the whole thing! Now, the problem right now is time and energy. By the time I get home from work (hanging/stripping wallpaper and/or painting all day) I am just physically and mentally drained. I mean, it's not like I'm just sitting in an office all day or something. We do hard work and we don't take breaks! Soon, though, we're going to be off since my mom is having surgery on her knee. And depending on how long it takes her to recover, we could be out of work for a good while. So this is my goal that I'm setting right now: Go through the entire InDesign book in 21 days, starting the day of my mom's surgery.

Projects In the Making


Ok, so I've come up with a couple different design ideas for the experience and to add to my portfolio:

• Design a sushi restaurant menu, I was thinking of naming it "Crane Style Sushi" lol. 
• Design an entire magazine (including "ads" for different businesses, just for the experience). I've been wanting to do this for a long time, I just wasn't sure what to do it on. So I decided to choose something that I'm passionate about, because this is a HUGE undertaking so I figured why not make it fun and something I would be motivated to do. So I chose music, each article featuring a band of my choice in an art style that reflects the music (I'm going to design the article while listening to the band for inspiration). 

The first one won't take that long, but that second one is pretty huge. Ugh I also really need to design my business cards...I keep forgetting about that.

Today's Shout-outs:

Dr. Prillaman, the surgeon who yanked out my wisdom teeth, for doing an awesome job. I highly recommend him: Paul E. Prillaman DDS: Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Michelle Phan, professional make-up artist & designer, for posting all those amazing how-to's & DIYs! Check it out: Her Old Blog, New Website, & YouTube Channel.

Dry Socket & Disgusting Cloves

Well, I had my follow-up with the surgeon today. I had one dry socket in the lower left extraction site. It's kind of funny, everywhere I've read on the internet everyone's like "Ahh, dry socket is the worst pain ever!" "You'll KNOW when you have a dry socket because the pain's unbearable!" Blah blah. I didn't even know I had one. It didn't really hurt at all, I mean the pain was so minor. ...are people that whimpy...

I mean, overall, this whole experience wasn't the worst pain I've ever had. I've definitely had worse pain from hockey injuries. And braces. And having like all of my baby teeth pulled out by the dentist as I grew up. So maybe that's why I don't think it was as bad as some of these people are saying.

Now, I'm not saying it was a walk in the park. It really sucked. My face is still swollen (It's Monday. I had the surgery LAST Monday.) But right now is the worst ever, I swear. This clove oil mixture stuff is going to kill me. It's SO disgusting. The taste just WON'T go away. It's making me feel sick, and I just don't feel like eating.

Illness, Sleepless Night, and an Unfinished Moogle

Unfortunately, I can't really stomach the vicodin very well. Yesterday I got really ill (twice, won't go into detail, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about). So today I decided to halve the dose and this seems to be better for me. My mouth really hurts.. My jaw is extremely stiff, but I'm kind of glad to just have the pain and the stiffness and not the nausea. I could definitely use that extra bit of pain medicine, but I really don't want to get sick again. That hurt more than anything.

Since my body relieved itself of all of the pain medicine yesterday, I couldn't sleep the entire night because I was in so much pain. I finally fell asleep around eight, but woke up at nine because of the pain. When Billy left this morning, he went to kiss me and then started laughing because my face is all swollen! He said it was cute lol I said he was being mean :P

So now I've been really tired all day, but couldn't fall asleep :( I distracted myself by watching Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, which made me feel better ^^. I really love his movies. What an amazing imagination! (If you're not sure who I'm talking about, it's Hayao Miyazaki, who is so great!!) Yesterday, I watched My Neighbor Totoro, which also made me smile, except I can't physically smile right now...lol. 

My mom is so sweet, too. She just came over with a card and a bouquet of daisies and my favorite: potato soup! (Unfortunately I couldn't eat the potato soup, because of, well, the potatoes lol.) She also did the dishes for me :)

Dungeon Hero X Moogle Doll! (work in progress...)

A couple days ago I started making another moogle doll, but with a twist ^_^ I'm making this one in Mog's Dungeon Hero X costume! As you can see, I have a long way to go. I've only completed the head, ears, body, and red scarf lol. The legs, arms, and wings are already completed, I just need to attach them. I haven't decided how to construct the belt and mask yet. I'm thinking of painting the face with black acrylic paint instead of embroidering this time. I've never painted on a face before, so I'm a little nervous about that part. I'm definitely going to practice on a scrap piece first.

I'm making this for our friend Chris, since I think I promised him one lol but also he bought Billy and I some awesome presents. He bought me Dax the Skelanimal dog and a Kodocha hat ^_^ Sorry if I look a little mean in the picture. Like I said, I can't really smile lol. I did my best! XD

Isn't Dax soo cute?? He glows in the dark, so when we go to bed there's a little skeleton dog sitting on my dresser lol. I love that hat, too. It has little purple wings on the back. The ears are wayy bigger than they look in the picture, though haha.

Wisdom Teeth Are OUT!

Well, this morning I had the oral surgery and had all four of them removed. The experience wasn't terrifying, except for the gas part. It wasn't necessarily "Terrifying!", but very strange. I was feeling absolutely fine, a little light-headed, until I suddenly realized I couldn't feel my feet or hands, or my whole body in fact. Billy was in the room as they put me to sleep, and he said it seemed like I kind of panicked, because my heart rate spiked. The nurse asked me if I was ok, and that it was fine to breath through my mouth to ease off of the gas a little. So I did and the feeling returned a little, enough for me to feel a slight pinch in my arm as the doctor put in the i.v. I didn't even feel the medicine go in, and actually, I don't remember much after that. The nurse and Billy helping to the car is something I vaguely remember. He stopped at Hardees or something to get me a milkshake. He said when he looked at me while we were in the car I had drool/blood running down my chin haha!

Drinking that milkshake was the most awkward experience ever, since my lips and chin were completely numb. Billy had a good laugh, since every time he looked at me I had milkshake pouring down my face XD

Unfortunately, the numbness is really starting to fade now, and all I can taste is blood. The pain is slowly creeping in, and, to be honest, the only reason I'm on here relaying my experience is to distract me from it! I took a vicodin with the milkshake, so Billy expected me to still be asleep. But I think the pain woke me up. Wow, all four teeth at once! I mean, I'm glad to have it all over with, but this is going to suck!


Hey, where's my applesauce?! I'm starvin' here! :D

Curse You 3rd Molars!

You are in imminent danger of being extracted from my face!

So, yesterday I went to the dentist, then was sent to the oral surgeon, and today I scheduled an appointment for surgery on Monday... And I'm really nervous! Not about having them taken out; during my childhood, almost every baby tooth had to be manually pulled out by the dentist. I'm actually afraid of being gassed and drugged! Ha I guess that's kind of funny, but I've never had it done before!

I've been told exactly how it's going to go by both the doc and my husband, yet there's still a lingering fear of the unknown. The unknown that is about to be known pretty soon! I only have four days left... I'm mostly worried about being allergic to the sedatives or something like that. ...

Ugh I worry about every little thing as usual... I should look on the bright side: All four of my stupid wisdom teeth will be gone. That'll be great!

Well anyways, besides that, I had some fun today in photoshop:

My First Finished Project!

Can you tell I'm excited about this?! Well, I've been wanting a panda hat for a long time, ever since I started sewing. I decided to take it a step further and make a panda scoodie! It's made out of good quality fleece so it's super soft and warm. I love the stitching around the edges, though I had some trouble with it. I think it's because the fabric was just too thick in some places. In a way, though, I kind of like the imperfections. It adds to it's unique, hand-made appearance. As you can tell, I'm not saying the hat looks like it's poorly done. I'm actually extremely anal, a big perfectionist, when it comes to the things I create. I've always been that way, since I was little. To the point of being a weird little kid.

Case in point: If I colored outside the lines in my coloring books, I would make my mom cut off those parts!! Who does that??!! I guess I just had a shaky hand, because I ended up hating coloring books and giving them up all together! Haha! I'm so strange...

Well, if I do start selling products then my customers will like that strangeness, because I'm all about working hard and producing quality work! At the same time, like I said earlier, I kind of like the messy look of the stitches, even though it was an accident. So I guess I'll have limited clientele XD. I also wanted to have each piece be unique in some way, so little imperfections add to that.