Now, what do I wear?

I've nailed down an internship. I feel good about that. But now I'm worrying about what to wear!

Business casual: not jeans but not suits. So what? Skirts and slacks? Floofy and floaty shirts. Necklaces and bracelets and jingly earrings? Flats and heels?

I've been a "jeans and a t-shirt" girl forever. Chucks and skate shoes for years.

I don't even know where to start! I have a few items, but they're pretty limited. I'd say I have about five days worth of outfits. It's a start, but it won't get me very far.

My PR prof suggested one skirt and one pair of slacks in black, navy and grey. Button up shirts? Blazers? Jackets? What kind?

I just don't even know where to start with "accessories."

Any suggestions?

Finally, a little sun

Bellingham, the lovely city I live in (for now) is known for being cloudy and moody. It's worse than Seattle.

Last weekend was sunny and bright and all I wanted to do was get a pedicure so I could wear my sandals. Monday was nice enough, so I got my pedicure after classes and work.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were rainy and chilly. The wind was even going a little. So my lovely pedicure was trapped inside socks and boots!

Friday was a little nicer, I could wear my sandals, finally. But, I was trapped inside all day.

I had high hopes for Saturday and as the morning wore on, it looked like Saturday was going to be nice. We went out for lunch with the Fiance's grandparents and took them to Drizzle, my favorite place in Bellingham. Once we finished there, they took off back home and the Fiance and I turned on an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

As soon as that episode was over, we looked outside. It was raining. And it rained for the remainder of the day.

Today, as I lay here on the couch blogging about the weather, there is sun reflecting off the cars in the parking lot but the sky appears cloudy. I'm torn between staying inside where the weather can't get me or going to the Dirty Dan Days festival in Fairhaven.

I think the lure of sunshine may win out.

A Day (night) To Remember + Rise Against

Last night I saw one of my favorite bands ever play live for the third time.

A Day To Remember is on my top 5 bands list, and they've been there for years. One of the biggest reasons I love them so much is because they're just phenomenal live. Their showmanship is incredible.

Title Fight opened the night on a terrible note. I've never heard of them, and now that I've heard them, I'm happy to never hear them again. It was a mishmash of moans and squeaks. I joked to my fiance that the singer reminded me of Young Frankenstein's monster singing "Puttin' On The Ritz." The drummer was the only one with real talent. The rest was iffy at best. I cheered very loudly when they announced that they only had three songs left.

A Day To Remember came on next and the show was incredible. They started off loud and fast and kept it up for the whole hour or so they played. I never wanted the set to end. Their songs are perfectly suited for audience "shout-a-longs" and the band took advantage of it. Every other song had a verse for the audience to sing back. The singer talked to the audience and kept us engaged. From the moment A Day To Remember took the stage to the moment they left, I felt as though I was important to the band, as though my presence mattered. At one point, the singer got into a giant plastic ball and walked (stumbled) around on top of the crowd. We felt important. Every song sounded as good live as it does on the CD. And they've been this good every time I've seen them. From the first time when they played on a teeny, tiny stage at Warped Tour, to the next year when they played a medium stage to now, playing at the ShoWare Center after touring Europe with Rise Against. A Day To Remember knows how to put on a show. 

Rise Against ended the night too loudly. Something was wrong with the equalizer and volume. Rise Against was louder than A Day To Remember, which doesn't make sense, since ADTR's music has much more bass. Whatever was wrong made Rise Against echo painfully, in a way that made the echoes scream. The songs were almost unintelligible due to the volume. I've been to many concerts, but none have made my ears hurt that badly. Added to that, Rise Against just wasn't as engaging. I really love the band, but their showmanship just didn't follow ADTR's very well. I had to plug my ears in order to stand inside the arena. (A really nice guy noticed me using my hands when he was leaving. When he came back into the arena, he had bought me earplugs! What a nice guy!) The fiance and I left after five or six songs. The music and atmosphere was killed by the volume.

Overall, it was a good night. Only three things could have made it better: A different opener band, Rise Against's volume and EQ being fixed and my sister coming along like she was supposed to. (Oh, family drama.)

What's the best show you've ever been to and why?

We Love Tiny Things

Americans love tiny things. We all know it. Think about tea cup pigs. Toy poodles. Tiny lotions. Mini sharpies. I could go on and on, especially since *I* love tiny things.

Speaking of tiny things, I love makeup samples. I've been obsessing about Birchbox. It's this neat service that sends 4-5 deluxe makeup samples each month for $10. They're sort of tailored to my skin, proficiency in makeup techniques and interests. I've been telling all my friends about it.

This month's box was pretty interesting. I got a tiny nail polish in a grey-blue by Zoya. I haven't tried that one out yet, I'll get back to you once I do.

I also got a tiny tin of cuticle cream. It smells amazing. It's a little greasy, so I don't like to use it until right before bed.

There's an itty bitty vial of Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume. I'm not sure how to apply the stuff though, it's not in a vaporizer or a dropper.... Therefore, I'm not sure how I like it.

Finally, I got a packet of Willa on the go facial cleansing wipes. They smell pretty good, light and fresh. They don't make my face sticky and they clean everything off pretty well. I usually use Ponds make up removing pads, but I think I'm going to switch to the Willa pads. The only issue with that is I don't know where to find Willa brand products in my area, and Ponds are available at any Rite-Aid.

I just love tiny things. I will keep filling my purse with tiny, travel-sized products. Birchbox is just making that a tiny bit easier.

On the mend

Well, I'm starting to feel better. Starting.

I'm still easily tired, have no attention span and am ....

I don't even have the attention span to finish that sentence.

The fiance's getting better too.

Yay!

(I shouldn't be allowed on the internet right now.)

Most unproductive

I had plans for this weekend! I did! I was going to tackle some major messes in my apartment and get them clean!

And then I got sick.

So, instead of cleaning, the Fiance and I have made more messes than we've cleaned.

So much for spring cleaning.

I am so excited to graduate so I finally have some time to clean.

Who wants to do my laundry?

Sorry for the silence

The blog's been a bit quiet lately, and I apologize for that. I've been really working on my follow through on projects like this. (I think this is the fourth blog I've started?) Unfortunately, I've been rather ill.

Wednesday I started to have a bit of a cough. It wasn't much, I just thought it was allergies, even though I'd never had allergies before. Well, I was wrong. Thursday I didn't make it to campus until after noon, missing two classes due to a fever and exhaustion. (SO not like me!) I got a bit of homework done, went to work and then went to my class/other work. I was coughing a lot more and was sore from going to the gym on Wednesday (or so I thought) but overall, not entirely miserable.

Thursday night was miserable.

Friday I made myself get up to encourage the Fiance to get up and go to his new job. I got to campus and was feverish and even more miserable than Thursday, if that's even possible. I made my way to the Planetarium and told the professor that I was sick, but still wanted to turn in my homework and try to go to class. She sent me home. So, I went over to work to tell them that I wouldn't be in. (ha!) A few words in and both my co-account executives were laughing at me. I sounded like I had inhaled a balloon. I sent a few emails and caught the bus home.

Then, I went to bed. The Fiance called me and said sweet things to make me feel better and then told me that the new job wasn't going to work out and that he was going back to his old job. Whatever. So, he came home and took care of me. Bad idea. I did send him out to get Cepacol cough drops and Kleenex with Vicks in it. He went to three different stores and didn't find the Kleenex with Vicks. My heart is crushed--I LOVED those. :(

This morning (afternoon) I got out of bed around 1 and felt like I had eaten sandpaper. My throat was as painful as it had ever been. Still feverish. So I jumped on the computer to find a walk in clinic. After I found one that took my insurance I went to wake the Fiance so he could drive me only to find that (surprise, surprise) he had a fever! And a sore throat!

Poor guy's allergic to so many medicines and gets new allergies pretty easily that it's difficult to give him painkillers like ibuprofen. I gave him a sodium naproxen and drove myself to the clinic.

"It's viral, so there isn't much we can do."

I just love that sentence. The doctor offered me an antibiotic, but I declined. An antibiotic won't do anything for a viral infection. So I asked about something to make my throat better. That, she could help me with. Yay for cough syrup with codeine!

The Fiance's going to miss work on Monday and probably the whole week. That's lovely. I'm hoping to be better enough to go to my one class on Monday so I don't fall even farther behind.

On the bright side, I have an interview for an internship! And it's a week from Monday, so I should be 100% by then! Best thing to happen all week.

Management

For the last nine months I've been learning to manage people. Projects, I understand. Deadlines make sense to me. Managing people is a whole new foray.

I started over summer, co-managing two designers. Then, the school year started and I began managing four designers on my own. Later, to even out the numbers, I was only managing three designers.  Then, we hired a few more people. Now, I'm managing four again.

I really enjoy the guys I'm managing. Three out of four I can razz and sass when they're late on things and they get it done. The fourth is a little more sensitive and a little harder to manage. I'm not going to go into detail, as that would be unethical.

This is the second time I've managed a staff, and the first time I've done it successfully. When I managed a budding new newspaper staff, I didn't know what I was doing, they didn't know what they were doing and none of us knew anything about running a newspaper. I'll be honest. It was a nightmare for all of us.

I'm glad that my second run at it has been much more successful.

Emerald City ComiCon weekend

This weekend was expensive. But sooooooooo worth it.

Friday the finace and I drove down to South Seattle Community College and officially enrolled him in the baking program. He'll start baking classes in January. Before then he'll take 10 elective credits so he can get the pastry degree, rather than the certificate.

After going to the school, we went to lunch at Boom Noodle. There were so many different kinds of noodle dish to choose from. There were udons, ramens, phad thai, and rice dishes. The fiance and I ordered the pork steam buns, tokyo ramen and spicy beef udon. The steam buns were a "make your own" style, and they were tender and tasty, accompanied by a savory sauce. The fiance got his spicy beef udon and took one bite and said he wanted to trade. I traded before I could taste my tokyo ramen. After I tasted the udon, I knew why he wanted to trade. It had some Indian flavor to the broth, and he's not a huge fan of Indian food. I, however, love it. His (my) ramen was really good too.

Then, we went to Salon Armand. The fiance got his hair trimmed and I got my hair dyed dark brown and trimmed. I love the service at Salon Armand. There's always tea and water and chocolate. The atmosphere is lovely and inviting. I drive down from Bellingham for the excellent service.

After our hair cuts, we went to Sun-Ya for a delicious Chinese dinner. We got the C dinner. It included Mongolian beef, chicken lo mein, chow mein, pot stickers, BBQ beef and fried rice. There was an incredible amount of food. It came out one dish at a time, but the first dish came so quickly. The service was excellent. When I live in Seattle, it will be a regular place. The fiance's family treated us, which was lovely. They told us that Sun-Ya is known for their dim sum, so at some point, I want to try that.

Then, we passed out after not winning the lotto.

We got up at 9:30 on Saturday. We got ready and left for ComiCon around 10. It took forever to get parking, but once we did, we were only two blocks from the convention center. We met up with our roommate, her boyfriend and his brother. We set out to see our favorite artists! Now, I don't remember which order this all went in, but I think I saw everyone I wanted to: Jeph Jaques from Questionable Content, Randy Milholland from Something Positive, Danielle Corsetto from Girls With Slingshots, David Willis from Shortpacked, Jam from Wasted Talent, Aaron Diaz from Dresden Codak, Dylan Meconis from Family Man, Zach Weiner from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal,

I also bought art from AKrobotics and Least I Could Do.

After running around the center hauling what felt like 30lbs of art, we went to the Warehouse 13 panel with Eddie McClintock, who was HILARIOUS. No spoilers though.

After ECCC, had a quick lunch at PF Chang's (new lunch menu!) and I got some lotion at Lush. Then, we went back to the fiance's dad's house for a delicious dinner of porkchops and artichokes. Then, we went to see The Hunger Games.

It was a really well done movie, but they didn't leave enough time to build the relationships between characters. I'm no movie critic, but I thought the adaptation was good.

Then we went home and passed out.

Today, we got up went for lunch at Olive Garden and met up with the fiance's mom. We chatted for a while and then went to see his Grandma. Then, we drove back to the 'Ham. We had dinner at the Copper Hog, and now we're just chillin'. It was a VERY busy weekend.

Next weekend will be much less busy.

Day Two, Day Three

Wednesday and Thursday were busy, but not much of note occurred. All my classes had syllabus days and my psychology class has started to roll along.

On Wednesday night, it was Planet's query letter night. It went really quickly for the size of the class. I've got a great story group, and I can't wait to see how their stories take shape.

Last night I made enchiladas, which are what I make when I'm stressed out. I'm stressed out because my family just received some pretty shocking news. It's pretty private, so I'm not going to share here other than to say that someone in my family is pretty sick, suddenly, and that it has repercussions for the rest of the family.

It came out of nowhere and I'm alone, isolated from my family so I don't have as much of a support system as I would have if I was living at home. So, I'm a little more stressed than usual.

BUT this weekend I'm going to relieve some stress. Today the fiance and I are driving to Seattle to have his test scores evaluated by the baking program he wants to get into. Then, we're going to Salon Armand to get hair cuts. I'm also getting my hair dyed. Yay!

Then, tomorrow we're going to Emerald City ComiCon. I just adore ECCC. This will be my third year attending.
Stay tuned for my rundown of just how awesome ECCC was!

Day One, 74 left.

I only have 74 days left in my undergraduate life.

Today was a good start to my final quarter at Western. I didn't have to be to campus until noon, so I was able to get up at 10 and spend a long time getting ready. I actually put make up on today!

My first class today was Psychology of Gender. The professor is hilarious. I can't wait until we actually get moving on the material. It's going to be an interesting way to finish out my time in college.

Then I went into work. I love my job. I had expected a flurry of emails, but I actually had fewer than ten to deal with. I was pretty happy about that. I've set up some of the meetings that I needed to for hiring and I checked in with my designers. My guys are pretty great.

After work, I went to my other work, which is also a class: The Planet. I'm a story editor, so I have to read and edit a quarter of all the articles that go through the magazines. We introduced ourselves and the process to the writers and photographers and spent time going over the wonderfully important minutiae that make life on The Planet grand. I had so much fun last quarter doing it just for pay that I just had to do it again, but this time for credit and pay. We've got an interesting issue lined up. We're celebrating the 50 year anniversary of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring."

Tomorrow, I have work, astronomy and then we'll read Planet query letters. I'm so excited to see what people come up with!

The Beginning of the End

Tomorrow is the first day of my last quarter at Western. It's the most exciting thing ever and the scariest thing ever.

I'm so excited to be done with school. It's been 18 long years of school. Classes, homework, a neverending cycle of tests and homework. I like learning, but I'm really looking forward to being able to go to work and come home to my own time. I'm sure I'll be the kind of person that will bring work home with me sometimes, but I'd like to have most nights be mine. I'm looking forward to my time not being monopolized constantly by homework and studying for tests that might not be any help after I graduate.

I'm also terrified to graduate. I don't have an internship or a job lined up yet, and that scares me. I like to have things planned out way in advance, so this is a bit terrifying not having things nailed down. I have to find something in either Bellingham or Seattle this summer. By mid-August I have to have something figured out in Seattle. I'd have liked to be able to move anywhere, but the fiance is starting baking school this fall at South Seattle Community College. It's a two year program. He'll be done in June of 2014, about a month before our wedding!

This moment is more terrifying than graduating high school. At least when I graduated high school I knew I was going to college. I knew which one, six months before I graduated. I had things figured out. I had a plan and I was going to something at least somewhat familiar. This is completely new.

If you know of a PR opportunity in the Seattle area let me know. If not, wish me luck.

Best weekend home, ever.

Finally back in B'ham.

My trip home was one of the best I've ever had. For one, my sister and I didn't fight a single time. In the whole history of our lives, this has never happened. That alone made this trip special.

The fiance and I started looking for a truck. We want a little beater that will get him from point A to point B and help us haul some furniture to make some extra cash on the side.

I got to eat some excellent food. My parents are fantastic cooks. First night: steak 'n' taters. Second night: out for Thai. Third night: wishing for summer, daddy made ribs. We had corn on the cob, baked beans, coleslaw and the fiance made cornbread. It was the omnoms. I had four whole ribs to myself. There's just something fantastic about gnawing meat from bone. Mmmm. I'm making myself hungry just thinking about them again....

Aaaaand then there was that little wedding dress thing. Finding the perfect dress to get married in was the highlight of my weekend. I just get the silliest grin on my face when I think about this dress.

Tomorrow, I'm back to the daily grind. The AS has hiring training and it's the only training of the year that I find worthwhile. This is one training I'm not going to complain about.

The scariest part of this weekend: realizing the next time I see my family my sister will be graduating high school and I'll be graduating college.

Wedding Dress!

Today, I went to the Tri-Cities to meet one of my favorite authors. I missed her when she was in Seattle a few weeks ago and luckily she was just an hour and a half drive away. Patricia Briggs is a lovely woman. Mom and I were in the bookstore for about 20 minutes.

Next, we went to Lumber Liquidators and looked at bamboo flooring for my parents house. I've been trying to talk them into bamboo for so long. It's eco-friendly and beautiful and adds lots of value to a home.

Then we went to Burlington Coat Factory. It was creepy. There was crap all over the place. It was messy and felt trashy. We left very quickly.

Then, we were going to go to Subway, but on our way out to the car we noticed a David's Bridal. We went in on a whim. We browsed and eventually saw a few dresses that were pretty. I tried on three. One was a lacy mermaid cut, another was a lacy sheath and the other was a poofy princess dress.

The poofy princess dress was beautiful but it didn't feel like me.
The lacy sheath dress was pretty, but didn't fit quite right.

The lacy mermaid dress was the most gorgeous dress I've tried on. It fit me so well and it fit my personality perfectly. I tried it on twice.

My wedding isn't for two years and the dress was $400. Mom and I went to Burger King and we talked about the dress. I sent pictures to some of my best girl friends and asked their opinions. Everyone liked it.

We bought it. I have officially ordered my wedding dress!

Today my little sister turned 18. She's almost four years younger than me. I feel old at 21. She had a pretty low-key birthday. She had school. When she came home she opened her gifts. My fiance and I got her a ticket to go with us to see A Day to Remember and Rise Against in April. She's really excited about that. Then, we went out to dinner. She wanted Thai so we went to The Tea Garden in Yakima. My review of the restaurant can be found here: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/333/1588789/restaurant/The-Tea-Garden-Yakima.

After dinner, the fiance and I went out for drinks with some friends we don't see very often.

All in all, a pretty good day in Yakima. What a surprise.

So, spring break has been truckin' along at a dizzying pace. The past two nights I've been up late playing Mass Effect 3. It's such a beautiful game. It's cinematic and feels like I'm watching an interactive movie. I play it on the PC because I didn't grow up playing video games so xbox controls are difficult for me to play. I get confused and fumble around and die a lot. So, instead, I play on the PC where I can look where I want to look and walk where I want to walk and it makes sense between my hands and my head.

Last night, before jumping into ME3, I had some friends over for dinner. We made chicken alfredo! I've heard alfredo sauces can be really fussy, so I'd never made one before. But this alfredo wasn't fussy at all. It did what it was supposed to. I was really pleased. Dinner turned out well, and we all had fun playing Apples to Apples and Kings.

I really like my friends.

This morning, despite not going to bed until 4 a.m., I was up at 10:30. My friend and I were going to visit Drizzle, an olive oil and vinegar tasting room. I've been there so often that the owner knows my name and values my opinion. This was my friend's first time. There's just something about introducing friends to something you love that warms the heart. And, as usual, I bought another bottle of olive oil. This time, I got the blood orange olive oil. It's light and bright and pairs really well with a plain balsamic to make a salad dressing. I'm trying to eat more salads and eat less dressing. A light home made vinaigrette is perfect.

Drizzle is one of my favorite places in Bellingham. Where do you live and what's your favorite space?

Last Spring Break Ever

Today was the first official day of my final spring break.
I did nothing, all day long.

It's been glorious!

I spent my day up to date on The Finder. I discussed future financial plans with the fiance. I cooked myself a shrimp and snow pea dinner. And now, I'm watching Buffy.

I'm in the middle of season two, and I love and hate this show. There are some moments that are painful to watch. And there are moments that are touching.

But, it's the last spring break I'm ever going to have (unless I go into academia). I feel like I should be off on a whirlwind adventure. Instead, I'm going to be sitting at home filling out application after application hoping and praying I find gainful employment after graduation.

I'd love to get a job in the public relations field, I'll be overjoyed to get a paid internship in the field, but if I can find a solid internship (even unpaid) I'd jump for it.

Does anyone have any advice on getting a job after graduation?