the time we had an actual weekend (family dates + weekly wishes)

happy monday everyone! 

last week was my first official week of not having a real job, and it certainly had its ups and downs. i mean, not working at joanns (and therefore, not being on edge every monday, wednesday, and friday as i try to figure out if im supposed to be working the next day) is a HUGE relief, but at the same time, im still not sure how to, you know, deal with everything that needs to get done AND keep working consistently on blog/shop/jamberry stuff when most of my time constraints have disappeared. also, my body is NOT handling this inconsistent weather OR having night classes AT ALL and my fibromyalgia is FREAKING OUT so my pain levels been at like a 7/10 non stop for the whole week. 

BUT!!!! 

the great news is, because i NEVER have to spend my saturdays at work anymore, we got to have a normal person weekend chock full of family fun!

and by that i mean, we went to a doctor who craft fair. 

yeah, you read that correctly. doctor who. craft fair. 

it was at whimsic alley. which is basically the most wonderful place ive ever been in my life and im incredibly angry at everyone i know that knew about it and didnt tell me it existed:

its an entire store of nerdy fandom merchandise. mostly harry potter and doctor who, which is great because those are basically the only two fandoms i care about (ok, those and animal crossing, but thats not exactly a well known fandom in the us). 

oh, and they have a "great hall" in the back where they do things like have doctor who craft fairs. 

we mainly went to see my friends shannon and stacie of s & s ink (who you may remember from their sponsor feature a few months ago):

but, as happens at most craft fairs, i found SO MANY new crafters and makers to adore (though, please pardon the iffy photography, the room the fair was in was a little too dark for pictures). here are a few of the highlights:

ok, so im a total stickler for clever cross-fandom references, especially anything harry potter/doctor who (for obvious reasons), these patronus mugs from a bird in the hand? basically my favorite thing ever:

 you can buy them here (rose tyler) and here (amy pond). 

all three of us basically died over this pikachu wearing a fez by crafted cuteness:

have i mentioned that lately alice is OBSESSED with pokemon?  yeah, we had to drag her away from this table kicking and screaming. also, they had amigurumis of ALL THE PONIES from my little pony: friendship is magic. too much cute. im probably going to have to buy this pattern now...

and just when i thought i couldnt die of cuteness anymore, stacie showed me the z'etiquette booth and all of their marvelous bags and corsets made from the most INCREDIBLE custom printed fabrics ever:

i mean really. they even had a star trek toile. not that i have $250 to drop on a bag right now (though $250 seems really low for a handmade bag, ive been looking at camera/bookbags for a while now and holy moly theyre expensive, even the mass produced ones) but if i did, you KNOW it would be star trek toile. or doctor who toile. or something. (id post a link to their site but apparently their website is down but you can buy some of their bags here). 

then when we were done with the fair, we went next door to milk jar cookies:

because shannon said they had great cookies and she thought there was a gluten free option. shannon only undersold this place by a TON. milk jar cookies is by FAR the best (and cutest!) cookie place ive been to, well, ever. (and before you get all, "well how many cookie places could you have possibly even been to?" remember that i live in los angeles. where cookie places have been a thing for YEARS). 

i mean, look at these cookies (and also, the super cute assortment of plates:

yes, they were three dollars each. and before all the non-la people start freaking out, i just want to remind you, gourmet cookies are totally a thing, and $3 is a small, small price to pay for this: 

(also, the cookies are still warm when you get them, and the gluten free cookie was actually good) 

then, of course, we went home for naps and james went out to play dorks and dragons and saturday was over. 

yesterday we continued our celebration of me not working at joanns anymore by going out to dinner (jamess idea, i swear), at a real restaurant. and i didnt get sick. it was awesome (also, thanks stacked for knowing what cross contamination is and taking your gluten free menu seriously). 

and the best part? i dont work at joanns anymore so we can have many, many more weekends together.

so how are we doing on aprils monthly wishes?

well, school is going pretty great! on tuesday we had all had to sketch a suit meeting certain market parameters (store, age group, price point, etc.) and put them up on the wall anonymously to vote for which one best fit the assignment, and mine was voted the best! i know it seems like a really silly accomplishment, but when i was studying fine arts, my work was mediocre at best. i NEVER won the silly little class contests, EVER. so that felt really good. 

as for the smaller goals, ive done some of the remaining jamberry training, and james and i have talked about our house project list, and im pretty sure i know what were doing for his birthday, BUT, i think the main priority for this week is to figure out some kind of "work hours" schedule for me to use on weekdays. 

what did you do over the weekend? what are your plans for the upcoming week?