oi vey

i have to hustle this week if i plan on making may part of the bills. This pressure is stiffling my creativity. I'm trying to get more hours at work but that is interfering with the hubby's schedule.

we don't have a babysitter.

The money is around but just not attainable until next week.

oi vey.

think happy thoughts.

tommorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary and my hubby bought us 2 tix to see Sex and the City.

gimmie green

had a meeting with Big Nici and i like how it ended.

He said that when you have employees with a strong work ethic, you need to retain them. So he retained me.

let's pray that it'll work out.I'm going to head on over to the front desk where i can make more money and stop the working in the parlor. There are commissions and such that certainly add up quickly.

i don't want 4 doubles a week, but i 36 hours a week means i make NOTHING since those cheapskates on the parlor aren't helping my pocket even though they are drinking all my booze for free.

When i first started, i dug it. I made near $200 in 2 weeks of painless 4 hour shifts. Now.. i have made $27 in the last 3 weeks. Give a sista a little green! i take both, you know.

f&b art

worked tonight and it felt good to be on the floor again even if it was my day off. I miss that hustle and bustle of the people. It's like a complicated dance.

a dance?

if you were in the industry where your kitchen is tiny and it serves a hotel of 66 and a dining room that is filled to the brim, as well as the bar, you'd get it.

I love it so much that i am seeing an increase in my f&b inspired art.

I gave an illustration to one of the line cooks. She was partly the inspiration. Anyway, i plan on putting this on the cover of a cookbook for etsy. I already have a title (i'm not gonna tell all my secrets) and it'll consist of a handfull of recipies.

carepackage from heaven

occationally i get care packages from back home.

ever since i was in college, my folks would send me their remanants and impulse buys.

my dad goes to the pawn shop often for digital cameras, headphones and such.

today's care package had an ipod (160G);

digital camera,

and a dress for the bubs (my mother just returned from her umpteenth time in Trinidad this year). The ipod is just in time since its successor occationally only plays out of the right ear.

This newish ipod is soooo awesome. I dig the scroll screen and it even came with a large library that is certainly an education. Once i ever have money again, i'll splurge (it'll be a while...lol) on a new pair of Bose Headphones (mine are officially dead), and an av cords so that i can enjoy The Office on tv from my ipod!

My low time at work will certainly be filled with hours of music and video!

i'm a hustler, baby

a little unhappy with my job lately. the choppy hours and the lack of tips has drained our finances. The upside to the lack of money i've been bringing in i have resulted to my hustle: spirit bottles turned trinket trays. i've made a few dollars that have helped put gas in our trucks.

black hair vs white girl

Rubber gloves?

check

comb?

check

potassium chloride?

check

Today i taught a white girl to do black hair.

Usually i fly home or my mother visits to chemically process my hair once ever few months.

Yes black women, i know that it's suppose to be ever 6 weeks for the most, but i'm a slacker.. sue me..lol

My mother had a leftover relaxer from her last visit so lesals and i sought out to do my hair. My hair has looked so awful and over grown so desperate times calls for desperate measures.

With a hope and a prayer we rocked it out and it came out real good. We could of left it on 10 minutes longer, but for being her first time, my psudohairdresser did a good job.

Now what's left is for me to blowdry it straight and flat iron it.

Thank God my girls do not have to go through this long, tedious, and sometimes dangerous process.

wtf

what a busy day it was for little ol' charleston.

Spoleto is in swing and so are area business.

I worked from 6am until midnight with a 3 hour break somewhere in there last night. Which i spent at the library where i did a little recon of our possible new living in the near future. Even got to stop off and grab kettlekorn from the kettlekorn guy at Piccolo. used my last $2.64.

Anyway, since Friday i have worked near 40 hours and drank a little too much red bull.

it gave me wings right to the toilet... well, and i handn't eaten in like 3 days and worked on about 10 hours of sleep in those 3 days (i'm an married woman with children, i was not out partying and i'm not pregnant. 1 word: spermacide)

omg, when i actually had a chance to rest rest after a long and hard weekend, i passed out asleep for 2 hours. Once awake, my stomach was in knots.

I threw up.

a lot.

i felt freezing cold and hotter than hot.

everything i smelled made me sick and off to the porcilne.

I didn't get to enjoy this Sunday Funday.

I got all of an hour with my girls before this al started.

Thank God leslals was here to the rescue. The children were fed. They were happy.

even daddy got a little r and r.

Thank the heavens that tommorrow is my day off.

custom order

a woman at work wanted me to do a bombay sapphire bottle with her favorite team. I think it's Kansas but it could be Kentucky. We don't watch sports in our home..lol I dig how it came out; however, i wish to find a glass paint that doesn't take so long to set and comes out without having to put on like 5 coats of paint.

reconfigure

Oct first may be our last day in Chucktown, SC. Things are once again getting a little stale so we will leave our Folly bliss for the mountains... possibly maybe.

"Whoa whoa whoa," you exclaim. "weren't you just talking about how perfect Folly was?"

"yes," i answer.

"were you not the same person who said that she never wanted to be near snow?"

"yes,"

"i thought you loved your job too?"

Yes.

all the answers are yes, but this is how we roll. Soon the girls are going to be in school (SC has terrible schools, fyi) and our implusive moving will not be so easy to do. Perhaps lucky 13 will be the last, but most likely not...lol

I'll fill you in as time goes by. Right now we are focusing on paying as much debt as possible and to save as much as possible.

Sure, i'm saddened to leave here. There are pros (do you know how hard it is to live in 600sqft being a family of 4?) and cons (the beach..duh) to leaving this Carolina paradise. After 10 years in this state, it's time to move somewhere depart.

Thursday

my day off and i am too thrilled. spent the early afternoon at the beach playing in the surf and sand.

rode all around Folly soaking it all in for i have 3 doubles coming up so that means long hours on my feet and home only to sleep. Please pray for me that i make a lot of money with Spoleto being in town and all.

tough times

okay, i am not trying to be greedy; however, if you sit and drink free booze and have the best finger stuffs set out exclusively for you, does leaving $5 sound unreasonable?

I have catered to people all week and all i have made is $10. That's in a week! Jeez.

Since this new position i've started working, i have left a couple of days making wondeful tips, but of the late, there has been some real cheap folks up there.

One night i gave a table of 4 at least 3 glasses of champagne each. What did i get? $1.

$1?!?! Give a sista a break!

You are paying over $800 a night and you give me a f*ckin' dollar?!?!

That leaves me cranking out projects so that i can have an extra $20.

It's the end of the month and everything is due.

ugh!

our cable is off until i get paid.

Bertha, our suburban, needs a new power steering pump.

laundry has to be done. We don't have a washer and dryer right now so it's off to james island to the laundry- mat.

omg!

i'm not totally freakin' 'cause i have enough 1/2 done projects to get me through 2010..lol. The goal is to keep on moving foward. This summer is definately better than last summer so... suck-it-up and be a trooper!

that's our girl

today she read to her baby sister.

They opened a copy of My First Book of Words and sat together.

Reading.

It's these tiny moments that fill my heart with so much happiness it could explode.

a reason to be happy

mj

sunday funday

ugh. i was such a bitch today. A helpful word turned to great aggrevation toward a colleague. I was in the right; however, i'm not a manager (eventhough i have thousands of dollars in student loans that say otherwise) and it was not up to me to even say anything.

Now i'm home and our Sunday Funday can begin.

Beach,

bake, and

bond.

I love sundays.

Lucy

This is lucy. Please say hello. She also has a trolley that carries the children all around.

Presently i am working on doing something artistic along with my etsy site on her mudflaps. Isn't she swell?

poo doo

so i have the night off.

Been awake since 5am.

Totally woke on the wrong side of the bed again even if it's Janet Jackson Day.

So pissy i feel.

what's my problem?

shop til u drop

today my favorite gals gathered in my suburban and drove all the way to N.Charleston for a little shopping. i got: 2 pairs of bellbottoms on clearance from Old Navy (i'm too excited that i'm in a size 10 again. it's been so long) a new sketchbook polymer clay toy tool box the new ReadyMade mag clear fused glass and a nightlite fixture at Blue Heron

After a little retail thearpy, the team went for a bike ride through Folly. Ahh, Folly.

poo hiss

for a woman who started her day Dusty Springfield style, i was in a bad mood for most of it. Got my feelings hurt earlier in the day and i stomped around my house cleaning with a grey cloud storming away. At least tomorrow on my day off i will have a whole day to do nothing but hang out with my family.

Do some art projects.

Post new stuff on my etsy.

Cook dinner and dessert.

what a pile of poop.

redbull infused day off

Today is my day off.

i have to tell ya, i love Folly. i know that i mention this often, and honestly..i have to say it again. I love Folly. The whole day to do whatever i please without a concern of going to work.

Watched a couple episodes of the L Word.

Made a big breakfast

Went on a bike ride with the family unit up and down W. Cooper and W. ashley ave. I have some crafty plans for later.

As we rode, and my redbull kicked in, i wonder about the validity of their claim that it boosts metabolism and improves performance, endurance and reaction speed.

I have lost a few pounds since i've been introduced to this craziness. And i motor around work like some aderol crazed rabbit doing my job and everyone elses.

Just last week someone asked me "what are you on?"

"i got 6 hours of sleep and i've just finished a redbull," i retorted as i cleaned the wax out of 10 glass votives. I strongly believe that he didn't believe me. Come on. This is the food and bev industry and many are hooked on $hit, but really.. me and caffinee are like a firecracker and a flame.

bicycle bicycle bicycle

i love my bike

she's so lovely

mother's day ride

in solitude

Folly is sweet

Folly is quaint

my body is swaddled

in a Egyptian cotton sheet

freshly dry.

riding against the wind suck something terrible,

but i feel like a bad ass

hallelujah!

hallelujah ! I got the nite off by surprise! too excited, dude. I've been up since 5am. it was going to be a long nite and my manager scheduled too many service assistants. I was so out of there eventhough i needed the money.

let's go fly a kite

i wish i had a camera that worked. the camera i use right now i a sad subsitute. We went to the beach today to fly a kite. It was a dollar at WallyWorld. of course it sucked and barely went up 6 feet, but the girls dug the hell out of it. There were a few surfers out with those oversized kites and boards.

quicki overview

*in 3 days myself and two others were stopped by cops for a variety of minor traffic violations- my first in 8 years- 2 of which resulted in being handcuffed and have court dates

*i made Big Brother N smile ear to ear and laugh. That NEVER happens. i'm quite proud of myself

*i got a little tipsy last night at Woody's on Washington Apple shots and i am thankful that i can bar hop on a bike

*i wanna be on the charleston roller derby team but you have to have medical insurence.

* coming down redbull is terrible. how in the hell do people do coke. This drink is a friggin rollercoaster

*all i wanna do is sleep. tourist season has begun

gocco

so last week i finally bought a gocco press. Why the heck do i need another hobby? Well my friends, our itty bitty house on the beach gets positively sweltering once that kiln runs. i need a craft to fill the time that i cannot use my kiln when we hit 100+ degrees. Kiln + oven + dishwasher + 600 sq ft apartment= hot in herrre

But i degress... i finally got a gocco press for printing stationary and clothing for my etsy site. It didn't come cheap, but it is as awesome as i thought it was gonna be.

i made my first print with Bubs. A funky dude saying hi in what can best be described as a mutant moose with stripped horns. Hopefully one of these days i will start my letter writing again it will be my stationary.

I've been so busy and now that i have discovered liquid speed- aka sugar free redbull- i'm 10x more active. When i sit down, i fall alseep. Even as i type this very blog, i am standing in the kitchen cooking.

i made a sale another sale

i made a sale! i don't consider it cheating that it was from an old classmate bought it. She bought two of my favorite pieces and i am too happy to mail it out.