Tricia's profileThe Fishie BowlPhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
March 04 Burned out!So, since I have a freelance design due tomorrow that I haven't even started that involves a flash animation (that I already asked for an extension for) this would be a great time to write in my blog (procrastination).
I've been known to procrastinate but this is ridiculous...never like this. Why? I think I am officiallly BURNED OUT. I don't know if it's because I'm 7 months pregnant and not sleeping well or if it's because I've been working so hard on my stamp company the last few months or I'm just tired of doing orthodontic websites for this client of mine...who knows. The thing that sucks is we owe big time taxes this year so this is not the time for me to not want to work.
I told my freelance job I'm officially on maternity leave starting April 1st and I'm counting down the days. I really think I'll feel better if I just take a break from freelancing. And what I really want to do is work on my stamp design company....I need to get going on new designs before baby comes (because like I'll have time after that for the first few months...)
I'm laughing because the last set of photos I published to my blog was my scrapbooking retreat from last year and we're about to go on the retreat again next weekend. HA HA HA. :) That's a good indicator of how truely crazy my life has been the past year though. I like to be busy but not this busy. I'm really hoping my stamp company takes off so I can just focus on that and not have to do as much freelance.
Sidenote...we're about to run out of room in our house when baby arrives and we cannot afford to upgrade yet. Where are we going to put this baby? We're thinking our computer room is going to have to go...but then were do we put the computers?! (This is probably the most used room in our house...) I'm hoping Phillip gets a big fat promotion soon. January 12 CHAI just realized it's been 6 months since I've written in my blog...that's because it's been CRAZY! Meridith and I launched our stamp design company (www.lizzieannedesigns.com) and that is keeping us very busy. We are going to be in the CHA show in Anaheim at the end of the month and it's starting to freak me out...it's costing so much money to be in this show. I really hope it pays off. We have been getting a lot of interest though so far so I'm getting excited as well! We'll see how it goes...
Other things that have happened since then is I found out I was prego end of August! YEEEAHHHH! We went to Disneyland the day after I found out, and the last day or two of my trip, the SICKNESS arrived. It stayed until right before Thanksgiving. So that was also eating up a lot of time...I was barely well enough to do anything during that. So much sicker than I was with Ethan. But of course we are thrilled, AND we found out we're having a girl! Yippeee! Baby is due May 9th.
THEN the "weather" came. We've had record flooding, windstorms, and snow the past 3 months...it's like one natural disaster after another. Of course this has been happening all over Western Washington---not just us---but when it's bad, it's always worse in Duvall. Most residents in Duvall were without power for 8 days during the windstorm and we just got 7 inches of snow two days ago...CRAZY. Makes you wonder what's going on around here (well I think it's Global Warming. Check out the "Inconvienent Truth" documentary.) During the power outage we gave up and decided to drive to my parents house in Salt Lake. Of course we found out our power came back hours after we left. :) But we were still glad we went...we had a really good time. Not sure we'll ever make that drive in winter again (we'll fly next time) but it was nice to be with the family for Christmas. Below is a photo of Ethan and Meridith's daughter, Olivia, at Temple Square. (Note they are holding hands...cute!)
So that's been the last few months in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to this show...both going to it and being DONE with it...so hopefully I can spend Feb, March, and April filling stamp orders and waiting for baby #2 to arrive. August 17 The Mysteries of ParentingI have so many friends who are having problems with child bearing, child rearing, and parenting right now it blows my mind. I have friends who badly want to be parents with no kids. I have friends who seem to be able to have kids but have horrible pregnancies and don't have as many children as they would like (I guess I could add myself to that category.) I have friends who have TOO MANY kids. I have a friend who cried to me today about finding out she was pregnant with her third girl...she was hoping for a boy as this was to be her last pregnancy. I have a friend who was knocked up and who will probably end up on welfare because she can't afford to raise a child (adoption..hello?!) And of course, I have friends who have children with disabilities and health issues...those are the most heartbreaking.
Why is the process of bringing these little souls down to this earth so dang hard and so complicated? (question for the day I get to heaven I guess...)
The kid thing has got to be the single thing in life that brings the most joy and the most pain at the same time. Every friend I have who is dealing with these types of trials suffers greatly, and it's very sad. It doesn't really help to hear that others are going through it as well (and there are plenty of others) because it's just not something that you want to have happen to you. I think as kids, especially as girls...we assume that someday we'll just have the exact children we want, and that will be that and we hold on to that until the day we actually start having them. And it's crazy for us when things don't turn out the way we had planned---which is funny because when it comes to having children you pretty much have zero control over what your gonna get.
I feel very lucky to have my little boy, and I know I am lucky. July 24 it's hotIt has been so hot here...and, just like most washington homes, we do not have air conditioning. My friend pointed out how lame it was that washington homes don't have air conditioning as a standard because it does get hot enough for it. It's a good point. Maybe we don't have entire summers full of hot days like this but when we do it's just miserable. It's 85 degrees in my house and I haven't been able to sleep for three nights. I'm trying to freelance, but my computer is upstairs in the hottest room in the house and my hand is literaly slipping off the mouse.
Not to mention I am just not in the mood to freelance these days anyways...I am suffering from burn out. I am much more interested in designing stamps for my soon-to-be stamp company, and that's what I end up doing instead of freelance. The problem is the freelance is what pays for my stamps. So you'd think that would be a motivator (and it is, but not until the last minute. ;)
I'm also longing for my college friends these days...I just miss the days when there was a lot less crap going on in the world and so it was easier to be a friend to somebody. The older you get, the harder it is to compete for a friends attention....they just have too many other things going on. I know I'm guilty of doing that too and I need to make an effort to not do that to others. June 23 Purple wallsEthan is definitely turning into a little boy. Note the attached photos. He and his cousin Carson decided to color all four walls and the CEILING (they climbed up the loft bed) of his bedroom purple the other day. They managed to do it in the 5 minutes I wasn't watching them. It took 1 1/2 hours to scrub off. Luckily, Carson freely admitted to doing most the work so my sister is the one who ended up doing the scrubbing. ha ha.
Note the photo of Ethan and Carson moments before committing the crime. Don't they just look so sweet an innocent?? What I love is at this age they come right out and admit they did it like it was no big deal. "Ethan! Did you write on the walls?!!!" "Yeah mom, it's purple!!!" So proud of their work. Until they wind up in the naughty-corner. May 28 GrandmaMy mother (or aunt?) recently sent me these photos of my grandma. The one of my grandma sleeping just cracked me up because it brought back so many memories...this is *exactly* how I remember her. She was able to sleep sitting up. I always thought that was so funny as a kid! The other photo is my grandma in her early twenties. She was such a lovely person. I hope that when I'm gone people remember me as fondly as I remember her. I wish I could talk to her now that I'm older too because I have a feeling we both had the same kind of outlook on life...it would have been fun to chat with her. She had an adventureous spirit, loved to travel, loved her kids, loved to work and go out to lunch and tea with friends, loved to paint and do artsy craftsy kinds of projects.... hmmm, sounds familiar! :) GirlfriendsI've always believed that one's girlfriends are as important (if not more important) than, well, men. :) Now, if you end up finding that one special man than by all means, that man should be numero uno. But I have to say that most girlfriends I have are devoted to that one man (husband) but in turn are devoted to a whole lot more girlfriends. And rightly so. That's because it takes a girl to really understand what a girl goes through I think. I might cry to my husband about things that are bothering me and I appreciate the feedback I get from him...from the "male" perspective. But I know it will most likely be my girlfriends that really understand!
Something I have been pondering lately is why it is I've lost touch with some old friends...this is very unlike me. I think it may be because I choose friends differently than I used to. I feel like I have such limited time now that the friends I do keep in touch with need to really live by the girlfriend code. The code being that Girlfriends are high-priority. (maybe not always top, but definately high.) I have some old friends who never really grasped this concept, and these are the friends I've ended up loosing touch with, not oddly enough. It's sad to me because I am not the type of person to ever loose touch with a friend...at least a friend who I have some history with. But I guess I'm just at that point in my life where I need friendships to be effortless and meaningful. Luckily I have plenty of friends who fit that bill. Hopefully I fit the bill as a friend to them as well...it's so easy to get caught up in life and forget to be a good friend back. I really do appreciate my friends more than they know.
Speaking of girlfriends, I just returned from a scrapbooking retreat on Whidbey Island...it was lovely! The weather was so perfect...we got so lucky because May can be iffy. We rented this beautiful house overlooking the water. I got lots of scrapbooking done, and I also went wine-tasting for the first time...ha ha ha! :) It was fun. (a little wine aint gonna kill me.) Below is a photo of our scrapbooking group. This will definately become a yearly tradition!
May 17 TortureI don't know why I do this to myself...but here I am on another stupid fad diet. This one my sister talked me into. Ugh. To make it worse, my aunt has been on this one for years, and I've always thought she was insane because she does things like blend celery sticks and spinach and water together and that's all she'll eat all day (I am not doing that.) I've literally had nothing but this disgusting "cleanse" drink today--I am starving. It's supposed to get rid of your cravings...so far it's not working because I could really go for a big bowl of ice cream right now. I don't know why I do this to myself...I guess because I'm a girl and that's what we do. It bugs me that I haven't taken off that last 5 pounds of pregnancy weight. I wish I could be like my husband and not care...I'm sure he doesn't even have a clue how much he weighs.
Speaking of torture, I am scheduled to have the laparoscopy surgery on June 7th. I keep putting it off thinking maybe we'll get pregnant this month, okay maybe next month..yadda yadda yadda, and it never happens. So I guess it's time to start doing something about this. Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll get pregnant because I *think* I need surgery and therefore don't care if I get pregnant this month....so I'll be surprised. So all I need to do now is not care this month. Yeah right. Off to surgery I go. April 29 Katie, Ethan, Jaden, and SiennaI'm diggin these scrapbooking pages I did of my friend Katie and her girls and Ethan when we were in Zions, so I had to post them :) It was fun to get the kids together....and fun for me and Katie to just hang out. April 26 The Pink HouseI love this pink house in Duvall. It's on one of the major streets, so I see it almost every day. What I love most about this house is that not only is it pink, but they have huge cherry trees in their front yard so every spring when they blossom it's a pink house with pink trees! (and even pink bushes.) I think this house has become a landmark in Duvall...everyone knows about the Pink House, and we all look foward to Spring so we can see the blossoms. It's a rite of passage. And I know the owner of this home is very proud of her pink house...I see her out white-washing the picket fence or pruning her bushes all the time. She's got to know what an impression her house is making on the community.
What really cracks me up is they also used to have PINK FLAMINGOS in their front yard. I was so dissapointed to see that they are gone...I should have taken a photo last year! April 20 The Tenth YearThis is the third post to my blog in three days which is very odd for me. I've got a lot running through my mind however and I'm finding my blog space theraputic :)
My best friend Ulrika emailed me today and alerted me to the fact that in June it will have been our 10th Anniversary graduating from college! Crazy.
And speaking of those ten years...I can remember that year I graduated more than any year of my life. Seriously. The years that followed up until now are a bit of a blur. But that one year... 1996 - 1997 plays through my mind a lot, even in my dreams. I wonder why...sometimes it really bothers me. I guess because *so much* happened that year...I went through more change than I ever have any other year. That was the year I graduated, moved to Park City, moved to Seattle, met Phillip, and got married. A lot of my very best friends kind of went their way that year as well (including my best friend who moved to Sweden). Yeah. Big year.
I think I also had a lot of unresolved things happen with friends and various people, both in Salt Lake and in Seattle, and having things unresolved bothers me. (Or, it must bother me because otherwise it wouldn't keep playing over in my head. At the time it didn't bother me..it was later.) It's just interesting to me how our minds keep reminding us of these things that make such an impact on our lives, even if we don't realize it. I know for a fact that I miss a lot of the people that were in my life that year...both friends I left behind in Salt Lake and friends I left (in a way) in Seattle when I got married. I'm still in touch with most of these people, but I miss the connections I had. As much as I love being married and love my husband dearly, I do miss the closeness of those friendships...it's hard to maintain those types of friendships when you are so involved in your family life. But I think it's just as important.
One thing I can say is that since that year, I learned *not* to let anything that matters to me go unresolved again. And I definately know how much a good friend is worth to me...a lot, so I invest more time into friendships that really matter to me. And that may be why the past nine years are a happy blur. :) GoneWell, my store is *really* going to be gone now...it is being sold to a guy who wants to open a coffee shop on Monday. He's also buying the space next to it and knocking down the walls inbetween...will be completely redecorating the place. So that space that we put so much time into is going to be GONE GONE in the next few months. It's fine...just a little sad.
Time for me to get going on my next business venture. (Stamp company.)
On the bright side, we're finally getting a coffee shop in town! Yeah! April 19 Lovely PhotoI'm getting better at figuring out how to use my digital camera (due to some great tips from Friend Rebecca) and I am so happy with how some of my picts have turned out lately. I had to post this particular photo on my blog because I love it so much. It's a photo of a pioneer-era home in St. George, Utah. I love how the leaves of the Japanese Maple compliment the color on the wagon, and I'm so happy with the composition. I think I might get this one printed out in a bigger format and frame it for my house...it would look great in my great room area with my red wall. April 17 I'm Blue (da da dee da da di)Actually, I'm not blue...quite the opposite, because I saw the Blue Man Group Saturday night in Vegas and I have to say, that was hands down the coolest show I've ever seen! Wow! Too funny. I loved the bit about the internet cafe/digital frontier.
I didn't enjoy our hotel that much (Luxor) but before this weekend, it had been seven years since I'd even been to Vegas and I wasn't sure where we wanted to stay. Now I can say I highly reccommend the mid-strip area...The Venetian or the Bellagio are nice (if you're rich ;) or my sister and her hubby stayed at the Flamingo which was also a great choice for about half the price! Good to know, as I'm sure I'll be returning more often now that my parents own that lovely little pad in St. George :) How convienent! Another tip....Treasure Island Buffet. mmmmmmm.
Other great things about the weekend...
-I won $18 (but then lost it)
-I saw my good friend Katie and her two daughters
-I got to hang with family members I don't get to see too often
-I visited Zion twice....one of my favorite National Parks
-Ethan walked his first hike (without us carrying him) and did great! (Emerald Pools)
-I mastered the art of running through the airport with 4 bags and a toddler (if you add my sister and her kids we had 4 kids, 9 bags, and two purses.)
-I discovered Sephora lipstick
-Ethan went to a KILLER easter-egg hunt
-I only spent $12 in the local scrapbooking store (a record)
-I discovered I don't totally suck at tennis!
April 06 "Spring" ForwardSpring is here, and there is something about this time of year that always really makes me want to get my butt into gear and do things I've always wanted to do but have been putting off. Not sure why Spring does this to me...it might be because the days feel longer with the time change, or just that whole "rebirth" you see all around you. I can't help but notice all the little buds on the trees and the flowers popping up everywhere...it exciting! Change is here! The season is telling me to change something in my life as well.
And change I have. Things I've done this past month...
Life is good right now. The only thing really bugging me is the whole baby #2 issue (or lack of #2 baby). I could write an entire blog entry about this one...but I don't want to dwell on it quite yet. I've just got to be patient. I really feel there is another baby for me and Phillip in the future. March 22 The Eb and Flow of MoneyIt just amazes me the way money can go up and down in one freaking day. Take, for example, my day today. UP: DOWN: UP: DOWN: UP: I fought a dental insurance claim that wasn't being paid for some ridiculous reason. I won (much to my amazement.) Up $160.00. DOWN: UP: DOWN: REALLY DOWN I also sense that an X-Box 360 is in my near future. ("We can do Media Center from your new computer and run it through the new X-Box...isn't that great?") ...see what I mean? All in the course of a day. Drives me nuts. March 15 Travel TalkMy parents like to tease me about how my life seems like just one vacation after another. (they are one to talk...they go somewhere just about every weekend!) They also tease me about how much money I spend on vacations. I was calculating how much I spent on travel last year, and yeah, it's a chunk of change. :)
Why is it that I can't seem to sit still for more than a few months tops before feeling like I need to GO somewhere?
Phillip told me the other day that he was having a discussion with some guys at work about the demands of their wives. They asked him what his wife (me) just HAD to have, and he said "Vacations." Ha ha, I thought that was funny..so true! And they thought that was cool! Apparently their wives were more interested in expensive cars and plastic surgery. What a waste of money...I'd much rather take a trip to Italy than have a BMW. (That's a toss-up for Phillip though :) I'd even rather have a smaller house and travel than a bigger one and be forced to sit home in it and never go anywhere...that's not my idea of a good time.
I saw an article about ways to keep your mind stimulated and your attitude about life positive in Real Simple this month, and they listed Travel as one of those things. I couldn't agree more, and realized that this is exactly why it is I need to travel. I always come back refreshed and feeling like I've learned or seen something new...even if I've just visited somewhere I've been dozens of times. It's a big world out there and I want to see it!
To each their own, but I will always choose travel over a big house or a fancy car. Travel keeps me happy. Luckily my little guy already seems to have my love of travel and vacations...he's already been to England, Sweden, the Bahamas, Canada, and several states in the US at the age of 3 and loved all our trips. Loves to camp too, much to my delight. He'll get to see a lot more of the world as long as I'm his mother. What a lucky boy! :)
February 15 9 years ago I moved to Seattle...This month marks the 9-year-anniversary of my move up to Seattle, and as I sit here avoiding my freelance work, I can't help to think of how much that decision has impacted my life.
The phrase "youth is wasted on the young" rings more and more true with each passing year for me...I KNOW what that means now. I would have loved to have had the knowledge I have now 9-10 years ago. Maybe I could have avoided that awful fish-company brochure design job, or that guy I met in a bar (ugh), and I could have ROCKED my design projects in school and left the other students in the dust. I could have made some better business decisions. I definitely would have handled a few situations with various friends differently. There are some burned bridges I'd love to un-burn. I guess that's life.
One decision I would never change though is the decision I made to move to Seattle. Not only did I meet my lovely husband--who puts up with my silly ideas and very anti-housewife behavior exceptionally well--, but I really don't think my career would have come as far had I not moved here (or to a bigger city.) And I've made some WONDERFUL friends. I had always wanted to live in Seattle...I am so glad I made the very hard decision to move here on my own when I did (I knew ONE person.) I love the water, I still have my mountains, and..to be honest...I'm not a real sun person. I could get burned after only 5 minutes in the Utah sun in summer. Much to my surprise there is actually much more sun up here than I had always heard. Best to keep that a secret from the Californians ;)
I'll always have the "travel" bug...I can't stand to be in one place for very long. But I can truly say that I will always feel comfortable with Seattle as my home base. I'll just have to go on lots of vacations!! :)
Luckily I'm only 32, leaving me at least 8 years before I'm 40 and officially "over-the-hill" to enjoy all this knowledge and wisdom I've acquired over the last decade. Of course, by the time I'm 40, I'll probably look back at all the dumb things I did years 32-40 and say to myself...if I only knew then what I know now....
Here's to the next 8 years. January 05 Phillip Works for the Mouse!Well its official, Phillip was officially hired at the Walt Disney Internet Group today! WHOO HOO! And not only did he get hired, he is getting into a higher position than originally planned! He pretty much rocked his interviews. I am so proud of him, and we are both so releived it's finally over. He is so excited to be done with this interviewing stuff...it is so painful. I'm so glad he's going to be at a place where there is lots and lots of growth potential and he's in a position he's so interested in....I'm sure he'll be at Disney for a very long time (I wouldn't be surprised if he just retired with Disney ;)
More stats...
The HR guy said they got 150 resumes.
Out of the 150 resumes, they chose 45 to review.
They called 25 of those people in for interviews.
They are hiring 10 of the 25 people for various IT positions...and one of them is Phillip!
Yay Phillip...I knew he could do it! January 03 Getting Older, But Not Necessarily Wiser :)I'm 32 tomorrow (will be today in 20 minutes) and I was just reading a journal that my Mom brought me over the holidays. It was a journal I was keeping when I was 19, a year into college and while on my first trip to Europe (Sweden.) What is so funny to me is that even though this was 13 years ago, it still sounded like me like I am today. I write the same way! I even joked about the same kinds of things I'd joke about today. I guess you never outgrow your personality.
Technically I've grown older, I don't know about this "wiser" thing. What is the benefit of growing wiser anyways? Sure I know a lot more now than I did back then, but I think that knowing more kind of takes the fun and excitement out of life in a way. Sure, it's nice to have the knowledge not to do stupid things you did when you were younger (like money issues) but once again, knowing what to do can be boring. What excites me now is learning new things and having new experiences (for example, watching my son grow up.) What doesn't excite me is knowing that the older I get, the harder it is going to be to get excited about things. My best friend Ulrika called me last week and said that Christmas just wasn't the same for her anymore...it's not as fun. So sad because we've always enjoyed Christmas, still do...but I knew what she meant.
It's such a bummer to me to think that I might not have the same enthusiasm for life as I did when I was in college, and I really feel like I need to find a way to keep that enthusiasm. I think the way to do that is to keep challenging myself to go and do things that are slightly out of my comfort zone...such as starting this Stamp company with my friend. The older I get, the more I want to stay in my comfort zone and just hide from the world...life can get so tiring. But the minute I start doing that, my zest for life goes out the door. I just can't let that happen.
It seems so silly for me to be talking this way...I'm only 32 for crying out loud! I sound like an old person. The weird thing is I feel both old and young at the same time. I remember my grandma saying the same thing once...she felt young like her daughters but she also felt like she'd lived a million years. I can totally understand where she is coming from, which is scary...because obviously that means I'm getting older too. Ah yes. At least I have 8 more years before I'm 40! :)
|
|
|
