easter fun + taking a break from weekly wishes

happy monday everyone! i hope everyone had a great easter weekend!

we did things a little backwards as far as easter/jamess birthday are concerned this year. normally for easter, wed go to church, and then if someone in the family (either my moms side or my dads) was throwing a party, wed go to that, and then wed spend jamess birthday (which is also his grandmas birthday) in san diego with his family. 

well this year, easter happened to fall on my brother in laws birthday, so we spent easter in san diego and did birthdays at the same time (meaning, well get to stay in town for jamess birthday). which, despite the fact that driving two-three hours (depending on traffic, which happened to be bad BOTH saturday and sunday) to stay the night at somebody elses house (not one of my favorite activities) totally stresses me out, the weekend turned out to be a very nice change of pace. 

obviously there was egg dying on saturday (which alice had never done before because she was too little last year):

and apparently alice LOVES hard boiled eggs if theyve been dyed first (i dont even REMEMBER the last time i offered her hard boiled eggs without her throwing them back at me). 

then sunday we had easter brunch (and i only pouted a little about not getting to go to church) and after that jamess grandma put together a little egg hunt for alice and her cousin:

then it was time for cake and birthdays:

(the 120 on the cake was my idea, jamess grandma only had number candles but didnt have everyones ages, so we added them all together and got 120. conveniently, she did have candles for that)

and later, since it was the hottest day ever and great-grandma and great-grandpa have a pool, and grandma (jamess mom) got alice a new swimsuit and life vest, there was swimming:

finally, when alice was just too cranky to function, we packed up the car for the LONGEST DRIVE HOME EVER. seriously. bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour THROUGH CAMP PENDLETON WHERE WE COULDNT EVEN GET OFF THE FREEWAY. and to make matters worse, it was easter sunday, and all in n outs were closed. 

but really, everything was fine. we had a nice easter, and now its time to get ready for jamess birthday. and my color theory class starting right after that. and then school week the next week. and then finals and my cousins graduation right after that. and then more birthdays for my brother and cousin after that. and then a quick trip to santa barbara and a wedding (unrelated) the weekend after that. 

so, um... what im getting at here is that ive kind of got a LOT going on right now, and weekly wishes? well, i dont really have the time (or energy) to work on new small goals every week. so, for the rest of april, and may, and possibly even the rest of the summer, the only goals ill be talking about are my big monthly goals. 

and im really looking forward to that. 

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?

i finally quit my job! (an outfit post + april monthly wishes)

outfit details:

top: h & m

skirt: vintage

shoes: vintage

necklace: macys

hair clip: etsy

glasses: zenni optical

nails: jamberry in imperial (matte)

everybody please ignore the stupid face im making in the first picture, and instead notice that my shirt has cats on it. for a long time now ive been wanting to get a cat shirt, but my sister is pretty much queen of the cat shirts, and i didnt want to look like i was copying her, so when i found this crop top at h&m with japanese lucky cats on it (which are one of my favorite things ever), i knew i HAD to have it. even though it was regular price and im probably way to old to be wearing crop tops with cats on them. but, cats. maybe it wasnt the most practical $10 ive ever spent. but again, cats. and when i wanted to wear the wrap skirt i wore to dapper day to church without looking all vintage-costumey, my new cat shirt was there to make everything better. so heres to you, cat shirt. also, i FINALLY just had to put new jamberries on my nails (after THREE WEEKS the old set was STILL going strong), and this imperial print is definitely a win (and the matte finish, im in love!). 

but enough about cat shirts. its monthly wishes time!

last month my goals were all about getting ready for my fashion classes to start: i wanted to finish my financial aid appeal, change my name on my school records, get a new student id, research/buy running shoes, get a bunch of meals in the freezer, take alice to the zoo, and decide what i wanted to do about my job situation. 

and im very proud to announce that i did everything except getting a student id! (which, honestly, was probably the least important of all of the goals i had). 

most notably, i took the plunge and quit my job at joanns! which is totally the opposite of what i thought was going to happen, but even though school is only two nights a week, my classes are turning out to be a LOT more involved than id anticipated, so, taking back the cut counter position did not sound appealing. obviously i was concerned about losing the (albeit, pretty pathetic) income, so i figured id just skate by on just my teaching position. but then something completely unexpected happened: my jamberry launch party, despite having a ton of issues in the beginning (because facebook totally rewrote the notification stuff), and taking FOREVER to get any orders, and feeling like it was just going NOWHERE, totally made what id make in a normal paycheck at joanns working both positions. 

so, this weekend, i was basically faced with this choice: keep the job that causes all kinds of stress and problems and scheduling difficulties that pays hardly anything and has NO opportunity for anything better than what im doing right now, OR, quit and have more hours to put into this new work-at-home opportunity that has already proved to be more profitable AND has a basically unlimited income potential (provided that i keep up with networking and booking more parties). 

if youve been reading for a while, you know that this has been a long, drawn out, complicated, and emotionally difficult situation (i mean, im terrible at being employed so the nearly three years i spent with joanns is roughly three times as long as i had my next-longest job). but, once i looked at things objectively, it was pretty clear that working at joanns was NOT worth it. 

so, saturday, i finally quit. i may have to go back next saturday to teach one last class that has one student enrolled (meaning, its already in danger of being cancelled), but other than that, im done. and its great. because really, that silly little poorly paid part time job was starting to REALLY get in the way of our serious long-term goals (not to mention my health and sanity). 

and now, we can move on to aprils monthly wishes (because its the first monday of the month and thats how we roll here):

for obvious, just went back to college reasons, aprils them is LEARN. 

honestly, with this month being a weird transitional time with school, and also containing jamess birthday (and requisite trip to san diego), aprils goals are a little looser and less structured:

my big goal for the month is to soak up as MUCH information as i can in my classes and immediately apply it to my blog/business where appropriate. one of my classes is all about building a professional portfolio, and SO much of it is relevant to where my etsy shop is struggling right now, so my number one priority this month is to focus and excel in my classes (which shouldnt be difficult, since so far im the only one thats even doing all my homework). 

my smaller goals are to finish all the online training for jamberry (their consultant resources are fantastic, and i have SO much to learn if this is going to be a sustainable business), put together an awesome birthday surprise for james, and to write out a BIG list of EVERY house project/purchase thats been waiting so that we can take care of them on days off. 

those are my goals for april, what are your plans this month?

sometimes i forget that im sick (a nice morning at disneyland + weekly wishes)

last week we had a pretty full week. james was home most of the week (but since hes worked full time basically the whole month, i wasnt worried about it), and tuesday, he was so kind as to take alice to the beach so i could work. this was especially awesome because, drumroll please.... i was able to FINISH a little batch of scarves for the shop. this one with the bow print is my favorite: 

then, the rest of the week was fairly uneventful, i dont think we did anything notable except driving across town to the running shoe store because i found a fantastic deal on the nike frees that i had decided on getting (there was another shoe that was even lighter and more supportive, but really, i couldnt handle feeling like my feet were in an iron maiden). 

obviously why thursday night we were getting bored, and alice has been asking for the jungle cruise just about every day. so friday we decided to spend the morning at disneyland. normally id pack a lunch for us, but james was extremely antsy to get there quickly since big thunder mountain railroad just re-opened (its been closed for like, two years. this was a big deal), so we decided that it was our special family date for the week and wed also go out for lunch (ultimately, this was a fantastic call on jamess part because i had an incredible gluten free pizza that im still fantasizing about). 

we were at the park for maybe four, four and a half hours, and it was great. alice got her jungle cruise:

hung out with the goats:

got to meet robin hood (seriously, in my whole life ive NEVER seen robin hood):

we had forgotten to bring alices autograph book. obviously since robin hood was there (a favorite of both james AND alice) we had to get a new one. 

then after lunch alice had a special request. she wanted to ride the "space rockets" (astro orbiters or whatever, its basically dumbo but in tomorrow land). since shes asked to go on this ride probably the last three times weve been at disneyland right as were about to leave so weve always said no. we made sure she got to try the space rockets:

and i dont think ive ever seen her so excited about anything in her whole life. as soon as we got in the little rocket (which was WAY smaller than i remember it being), alice yelled "are you ready guys! lets blast off!" before we could even get the seatbelt on her. i just about died. 

then after that, james and i used our big thunder mountain fast passes (which we miraculously got right after they re-opened the fast pass distribution after closing it for some technical difficulties so we only had to wait about an hour), and then we went home for alices nap time. 

at which point i did all of the days chores that id neglected by playing hooky at disneyland, then cooked an elaborate dinner, and then went to bed thinking i could just pop right out of bed and make it to my friends bridal shower at 10:30. you know, like a normal person.

well, turns out i was wrong. so, so, so wrong. i did wake up on time, but i was still so groggy and in so much pain that getting dressed and putting on makeup and shoes felt like wrestling a bear. by time i had done those three small things (that I'm sure most people do every day without even thinking about it), i was so tired, so sore, and so emotional, that i just couldnt do anything else. i spent most of the day in bed, crying. wearing my fancy bridal shower dress. because all we did was spend four hours at disneyland and i SHOULD be able to do something as simple as go to a party. 

but i couldnt. and really, i should have expected that. because, im not a normal person. im sick. and sometimes (well, a lot of the time, lately) i forget about that. while having fibromyalgia doesnt really stop me from doing anything, it most certainly keeps me from being able to do everything. and lately, ive been too hard to be wonder woman. to say yes to everyone and to do all the things and go all the places and do all the work and have all the fun.

i feel like this would be draining enough for a healthy person, but for me, each seemingly small activity brings its own little baggage of pain and fatigue, and unless i take lots and lots of breaks (more than even i think i need), to deal with each thing one at a time, it all rolls together and compounds until i spend an entire day sobbing in the fetal position because i tried to do two big busy weekends in a row (remember, last weekend, we went to the zoo). and i really have to stop doing this. 

over the past eight (ish) years, ive learned to get used to living with fibromyalgia. to be happy with a slower, quieter, less busy life than what most people are used to. and most of the time, its not bad at all. yes i get tired easily, yes it takes me a very long time to recover from something as simple as a bike ride, and yes i am usually in a medium to severe amount of pain that no medicine really fixes. but as long as i take things slow, as long as i get plenty of rest, i can do whats important. i just, cant expect stressing over getting to a morning bridal shower immediately after letting myself get way too busy too many weekends in a row to result in anything other than panic attacks. 

i guess thats my life lesson for the week. 

on a much less somber note, my first fashion class starts tonight! 

AND, as i mentioned earlier, i bought running shoes and attempted to get my student id (turns out the day i went was during spring break so no one was there, next week ill try again) so last weeks weekly wishes went well. 

whats up for this week? mainly i just want to get a good start on my classes and get my textbooks taken care of. 

what are your goals for this week?

(p.s. stay tuned for tomorrow because ive got a REALLY exciting giveaway coming up!)

the time we went to a wedding (an outfit post + my new business venture + weekly wishes).

we had a busy weekend over here. friday night we had the privilege of attending the wedding of my dear friend shannon to her new husband jacob, saturday we went to the zoo, and then yesterday there was potluck lunch after church. needless to say, im really surprised that i did anything today, let alone all the chores + errands + shoe shopping (which ended up turning into an extended visit to the mall) PLUS getting a bomb diggity dinner on the table at a somewhat decent hour (seriously guys, this pizza will make you never want to eat a different pizza ever again. i just wish i could have a chance to try it on real bread). 

its been a pretty exciting and productive day, to say the least. although my work work, like writing blog posts and sewing the pile of the soon-to-be-announced new product for the shop... well, lets just say alice just went to bed and im just now getting started. but, better late than never, right? i hope so. 

anyway, heres what i wore to shannons wedding:

outfit details:

dress: vintage

shoes: aldo (thrifted, originally purchased for my wedding)

necklace: macys

glasses: zenni optical

purse: voz collective (from back in the old days when jackie made purses)

nails: jamberry in diamond dust sparkle and cup of tea

first off, i just want to clarify that even though this dress totally looks like a bridesmaids dress (and just so happens to be the exact color of the wedding theme) i was not in the wedding. 

the bride did pick my dress though. 

for real. a few weeks ago shannon texted me saying "hey i got you this green silk saks fifth avenue dress from the last chance goodwill. it needs some repair on the zipper but it looks like your size and its just too nice to get shipped to africa and its only $2". so obviously i was like "heck yes". 

and then i actually saw the dress and i was like "HOLY MOLY ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRESS IVE EVER LAID EYES ON WHY ARE YOU GIVING IT TO ME FOR FREE AND NOT SELLING IT ON ETSY FOR THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS" and then i was like "i know its probably too fancy and the exact color of your wedding but can i still wear it to the wedding anyway", and being the absolute doll that she is, she said "of course"

but seriously. its the most beautiful dress ive ever seen, from the shimmery, swishy silk fabric to the impeccable construction (the fashion nerd in me just about DIED when i saw that the lining was HAND SEWN into the bodice so the stitching wouldnt show, you just dont see that in dresses these days). oh, and did i mention it actually fits? vintage dresses NEVER fit me right. ive got broad shoulders and a deceptively large ribcage and no matter how hard i try, vintage dresses just will not zip for me. but this one did. perfectly. 

obviously with such an amazing dress i didnt want any accessories to distract from it, so i just paired it with some plainish pumps and pearls and a simple hairdo. oh and this really awesome clutch that i got at a craft fair back when i used to do lots of cool craft fairs that i thought was lost for like two years but then i found it in a suitcase while i was cleaning a couple weeks ago and it was the best day ever. 

now, if youre really observant, you probably noticed that i included my nails in the outfit details, which ive never, ever done before. this is going to become a regular thing. and theres a reason for this. its because i just started on a new business adventure (i just decided right now that i like that word better) as a consultant for jamberry nails! obviously im going to tell you more about this later (spoiler alert: theres going to be a giveaway involved in my launch party thats happening next week), but for now ill just say that these are BY FAR the BEST nail wrap product that has EVER existed and you need to check them out RIGHT NOW (and also take this enthusiasm seriously because im literally never this excited about a product ever). you can learn more about them here (and obviously stay tuned for my launch party next week!)

oh! and remember how theres nothing new in the shop right now because i was too busy making bow ties and pocket squares for a wedding? well this was the wedding. i thought i should have something to show for this prolonged absence, so heres the adorable groom sporting his poverty luxe accouterments:

and as for weekly wishes? well i definitely made good on last weeks wishes: i filled out and turned in my financial aid appeal form (now im anxiously awaiting the verdict...) PLUS i updated my name change AND checked out the book lists for my classes. also, today i tried on running shoes (i havent made a decision yet though, these were lightweight and comfortable, but these were even better, though i dont know if they were fifty dollars better). also also, i got a big pot of cream of asparagus soup in the freezer AND we took alice to the zoo (and those werent even on the list for this week!), so marchs monthly wishes just may be completed after all!

this weeks goals are to get one more batch of beans in the freezer, decide on and order/buy my running shoes, and go get my student id (i couldnt do it last week because the name change takes a few days to process). should be a fun week. 

what are your goals for this week?

a bad week, bachelorette party, beach day, and weekly wishes.

so, let me tell you a little bit about the kind of week we had last week:

james was working out of town for the entire week, which automatically meant that our normal routine was going to be somewhat disrupted since i was taking care of alice by myself without any breaks. obviously i spent the entire week exhausted and frazzled (i believe i told my mom i was already completely over this week on tuesday morning). 

and obviously alice took full advantage of my weakened state by making some kind of huge gross mess for me to clean up every single day. im serious. james was gone for five days and i had five big gross messes to clean up. which honestly by the end of the week was kind of funny and not at all what made the week so bad. 

the bad part was that for the entire week (from some point on sunday all the way until friday afternoon) we had NO HOT WATER. none. at all. and our building manager didnt even notify anyone about the problem until tuesday evening (at which point i had already called her supervisor to find out what was up, because hello? were kind of paying for this apartment to have hot water). it basically turned the whole week into alexanders terrible horrible no good very bad day. 

but instead of spending this whole post talking about how much this past week sucked, lets talk about all the nice things that happened. 

like how on sunday i tried my first recipe from a beautiful mess:

this asparagus risotto was FANTASTIC (and a really great use for my homemade stock concentrate)

then monday alice had her last ballet class and it was adorable, as always:

but honestly im really happy that its over because this session she wasnt as excited about it and spent a lot of the classes being bad. not this last week though, she was pretty good about participating:

on wednesday i finished up my color theory class at the homeschool co op, and all the kids made awesome color wheels:

then james came home early on friday so we went out to lunch and the hot water came back on and everything was better. 

well, until the next day when i almost forgot to go to my friends bachelorette party. im serious. we all woke up saturday morning and lounged around watching pokemon and then i got bored and started finishing all the quiet, sit-down things i couldnt do while james was out of town and then james put alice down for a nap and went over to the card shop and i started doing some little cleaning projects and suddenly it was 4:30 and i realized, crap. i have to be at a bachelorette party in exactly one hour. i wasnt even dressed in real clothes. so i called james to have him rush home and hurried to put together an animal print themed outfit (as per the theme of the party), and some decent hair/makeup. i had about 20 minutes. i think i did ok:

(quick outfit details: top: hot topic (very old, from my 16th birthday), skirt: poverty luxe, shoes: h&m, bag: vintage, glasses: zenni optical)

and yes, i did make it to the party on time, and even though it was a total lady party (and ive never been a big fan of lady parties) i had an absolutely wonderful time (with the exception of accidentally eating half a french fry that had a suspicious coating and panicking that i might have a gluten episode, but i didnt, so every things ok). 

then yesterday after church we went to the beach:

because, well, it was all kinds of hot and NONE of us wanted to be at home. it was beautiful. and apparently the dolphins agreed:

and of course alice did that thing where she befriends some stranger kid and basically joins their family and eats their food and plays with their toys because she enjoys making me extremely uncomfortable:

and that was our week. 

thankfully this week james is working in town, and im not working (at all!) this week, so things should be a bit more mellow around here for a while. 

and now its time for weekly wishes:

this week i did make some progress in our monthly goals, i did make and freeze one batch of beans, and im pretty sure ive figured out what i want to do about my job (spoiler alert: its not any of the options i discussed earlier). this week id like to get my financial aid forms done and take them in AND go to at least one running shoe store to look at shoes (though ill probably end up actually buying the shoes online so i can get a better price), which i hope wont be a problem since, you know, ive got the week off. 

so those are my goals for the week, what are yours?

march monthly wishes (+ i could use some career advice right now)

happy monday everyone! its the first monday of the month, so that means its time for monthly wishes, which is when i reveal my "theme" for this month and the goals ive made relating to it. 

i started participating in weekly wishes a few months ago, and i really loved how talking about my small goals each week helped me to be a more productive and goal-oriented person. unfortunately, im a really good list-checker-offer and not a very good big picture thinker, so even though i was getting more stuff done, i wasnt necessarily seeing a noticeable improvement in our household as a whole. 

so i was really, REALLY happy when melyssa (who obviously must have been reading my mind) started doing monthly wishes. since january, every month I've picked a "theme", and picked a few larger goals to work on that month pertaining to the theme. so far, its been wonderful (though not entirely perfect, but well get to that in a minute when we review februarys goals). last month, though, instead of making the big monthly goals, and then separate smaller weekly goals (like i did in january), each week i simply talked about my progress on my monthly goals as i worked my way through them. for me, this was a really great way to take my larger goals and break them into more manageable steps and it really helped me stay focused since every week i was able to look back on my progress so far. 

so, long story short, thats how im handling my monthly wishes from now on. 

and before we start digging into marchs wishes, lets go back and take a look at februarys:

februarys theme was "clean", and my main focus was to purge and declutter so that we could do a deep clean of the apartment. i was maybe a little too ambitious in just how many different areas i wanted to organize (and james ended up working again, so i didnt end up having as much free time as id thought i would, but in a good way). heres what i wanted to clean:

1. the file box.

2. our closets. 

3. alices clothes and toys. 

4. files/pictures on the computer.

5. the kitchen. 

6. my craft supplies.

and that was really way too overambitious. 

really the only one i completed was my closet and alices things, BUT james made me a new workspace in the living room so my craft things are a lot better, just not perfect. and the kitchen and file box are actually very small projects that could be done in an evening sometime in the future. the only thing that i completely disregarded was the computer files and thats just because i just CANT do repetitive computer tasks (so, ill be working on this indefinitely). BUT! in general our habits regarding clutter ARE much better, and while we didnt get to do an all-day deep clean of the whole apartment, i have been putting a few more minutes into each days daily chores, and holy moly that makes a HUGE difference. 

so, februarys goals werent completed perfectly, but i can deal with that. 

now on to march. 

marchs theme is PREPARE. 

the reasoning behind this is because, in case you missed it, I'm going back to college and my first classes start at the end of this month. and there are a few things that need to be done before my classes start:

1. fill out/turn in my financial aid appeal form. after i filled out my fafsa i found out that were so poor that i qualify for all the financial aid, BUT since i already have a degree, i do have to go through an "appeal process" (it sounded really scary at first but the financial aid counselor treated it like it was no big deal and as long as i turn in the form on time ill get it). 

2. bring them my marriage license to change my name my paperwork and get a new student id. this is the same college i went to before i was married, so all my records are the same as from my first degree, and about half the stuff says meyers and half says patterson. apparently theres an office that can fix that. 

3. get a new student id. even if i still had my original student id (which i dont think i do), i was fifteen in that picture so i dont really think that counts as an acceptable photo id. 

4. research and purchase some new running shoes. the school im going to is literally two blocks away, and i am NOT buying a parking permit to park a half mile from my apartment for two hours at a time. also, the classes im taking are on the edge of the campus farthest from any parking, so the walk from the parking lot to my classes might actually be farther then the walk from the house to the classroom. but, walking to school and back twice a week isnt something i can really do in improper footwear. and ive literally never owned athletic shoes. so i have to find some that will work for me (that also arent hideous, i mean, fashion school) and try and find a good price on them. not really looking forward to this process. 

5. get a decent amount of beans/soups/etc. in the freezer. this semesters classes are at night, so i wont be home to cook every night. i actually already bought tons of dried beans so that james and alice can have burritos on my school nights, i just have to cook them. 

5. take alice to the zoo. ok, this one isnt entirely school related, but ive wanted to take alice to the zoo for like a year and a half and weve never had both the time and the money and i am DETERMINED to get us to the zoo on the next available saturday (which, hopefully will be before school starts)

and finally, 

6. decide what im going to do about my job at joanns. theoretically, ill be able to get a decent amount of financial aid and apply for scholarships and the combination would totally replace my (mostly inconsequential) income from joanns next semester. this semester i HAVE to take these one-unit classes and its making the financial aid situation weird and basically i have to keep working (or, poverty luxe can start bringing in a little more money and that would fix everything). 

and this is where i could use some input: i have a really complicated relationship with working at joanns. i really love my teaching position, BUT the hours are unpredictable (i only work if the class gets enough students) and scheduling/communication problems come up A LOT. my cut counter position is not my favorite, BUT since ive worked there management has been really great about keeping the scheduling consistent (because i have to keep other nights open for classes, i can only work fridays, and they just put me on every friday). both positions have their pros and cons but both of them require that i work at night, since i do not make enough money to pay for childcare. starting at the end of the month ill be at school two nights a week, so keeping both positions after school starts is somewhat unrealistic (i really can't be gone EVERY night). but because jamess job is really inconsistent (though it has picked up quite a bit recently), i feel like quitting outright wouldn't be wise, so that we still have something for when work inevitably slows down. and im not sure what would be best. (its REALLY too bad that the homeschool co op is only one day a week because i LOVE teaching those kids and wish that could be my only job). 

so  what do you think? i have about three weeks left to decide...

so those are my goals for the month, what are yours?