my belly is full

I drank my soda too fast and now I feel like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "You're turning violet, Violet!" and all of that.

It's another Saturday here at the house. Boyfriend is at work, parents are in Vegas (my dad has a work conference and my mom went with), and the brothers are going to the movies with friends in an hour or so. It'll be nice to be here by myself. I can't tell you the last time I had the whole house to do as I pleased! I'll probably just stay in my room and work on my secret project, but it is nice to KNOW that I could do whatever I wanted and no one would stop me!

This week was pretty good. I had less hours than normal at work, even though only 4 less. It was kind of nice to go in later on Wednesday instead of opening. I felt like a college kid cutting class! I don't work this Wednesday at all, but I work Saturday instead, which is kind of a bummer. Watch, it will be the first Saturday Boyfriend doesn't work!

My job is the coolest in the world except for this one person working there. I won't name names or tell genders even, but this person is very condescending towards me and doesn't treat me very well. Work is golden until this person shows up, and then things go sour and I have a hard time getting my job done. On those days I usually leave feeling aggravated and upset. I don't know what to do about it, either. I am still the new kid and I don't want my managers to feel like I am the one causing problems. But this person really is making it a difficult work environment for me. This person treats me like I am stupid---and I assure you, I am not. I didn't graduate from university with a BA, Summa Cum Laude (GPA of 3.9 or above), by being of low intelligence. Making a mistake at my cafe job should not be an indicator of my mental capacity.

I just don't know what to do. Should I talk to a superior about this issue? Should I request to no longer be scheduled with this person? I don't want to make more work for my managers and I don't want to be a problem. But really... I love my job until I have to work with the person in question, and then I am miserable.

Anyway, it's time to throw in another load of laundry.

whistle while you work---or try to keep from swearing

Naw I'm just kidding, work is going fine :) Both kinds of work, actually! Today is one of my days off so I got down to another kind of business and did the line drawing for a dog portrait I was commissioned to paint. After I post on here I'm also going to clean up a sketch for another painting I am doing for a client. The dog piece looks really nice and I am excited to start painting it on my next full day off---which is Wednesday (well I have a day off tomorrow but a girl's gotta get some time to read, right?)

The Boyfriend has been working a lot this week. He got hired a few months ago at GameStop, and the manager had planned to take him to a new GameStop that was opening up in another part of town. But the store opening kept getting pushed back and back and Boyfriend wasn't getting many hours at the 'old' store because there was already a full payroll of employees. But this week the new store opened---Boyfriend worked Monday-Wednesday from 8am-5pm setting up shelves and getting the games and whatnot ready, and then has worked Friday, today, and will be working tomorrow as well... because now instead of being the reserve employee who snags extra hours, he's one of the main Game Advisors at this new store.
I am happy that he's getting more hours and in turn will be getting slightly heftier paychecks. But I miss him, too. :( It just makes me glad that both of us waited to get intensive jobs until I graduated college... because with me working as much as I do, and now him working a lot, if I had to go to school as well we would never get to see eachother!
As it stands we aren't getting a whole lot of time together, because I work 8am-4:20pm Monday through Thursday (or any other configuration of 4 days a week) and Boyfriend works afternoons and evenings usually.

Some days we are as ships passing in the night, me getting home right after he leaves.

But it does spur us on to saving up for our own place. Because if we lived together, we would definitely have time together before bed and in the morning. You know? So...we need to get on that. Our self-imposed deadline so far is August 2009 for apartment-age. I like to KNOW that I can afford things instead of just jumping in, so I figure that by then we'll have enough money saved up that we won't ever get into significant trouble.

Anyway!
Work on my secret project is going well. Some of the ladies at work have been asking questions because they see me working on it during my breaks. But I am really superstitious and I don't want people to know details because I don't want other energies to fiddle with my gung-ho energies regarding the work. So... it's going to be a secret until I can get it done :) And I have no idea when that will be!

My tattoo is healing really well! She is officially 3 weeks old! She's still a little bit raised but I'm hoping that it will go down within the next week. I love the new addition to my arm and have been getting a lot of compliments on her! But according to my impatient personality I am already planning ahead... I have the next 3 tattoos figured out already :P I have the money for two more but I am afraid to get the next one so close to the one I just got because my parents might kill me. So I have to weigh my options: getting two tattoos within 2 or 3 months of eachother and being super stoked vs. dying by my parents' hands. Hmm.
I know I'm 22 but I still don't want them to have heart attacks on my account.

Well! I should get back to work before Boyfriend gets home!

Heavily Tatooed Females: Fact or Legend?

It seems that girls with tattoos are seen as somewhat of a myth in Westlake, CA.

I cannot tell you how many customers ask me if my tattoos are real---one guy actually rubbed the one on my wrist because he was convinced it was a decal! Another customer asked if they were real and when I said "yes" he replied, "Oh... because... they aren't... angry."

Also, I find it a little offensive that in my own store, the tattoo magazines are in the "Men's Interest" section of the newsstand. :(

What is this weird trend? Why is it weird for a girl to have visible tattoos? Is it because they are on my arms? Is because I'm working on a sleeve? Is that somehow weirder than if I had one on my ankle or something?

All I know is that I get a lot of surprised looks at my job when people realize that I do not decorate my body with stickers or decals. Hah.

blow, blow, thou winter wind

It has been really cold here in Southern California for the past couple of days...and I LOVE it! The air itself if reminiscent of Christmas day, and there is a chill and bitter wind that picks up now and then. It makes me want to curl up with something nice to drink and read all of my favorite autumn books... Redwall, being the main one.

I am going to try and read Dickens' "A Christmas Carole" this year before Christmas, for real. Usually I just watch the Muppet Christmas Carole... which I will still be doing, but I want to read the actual book as well ;)

Now that I am working a lot of hours, I get art commissions! Go figure, hehe. But I am very glad that business seems to be picking up! I have a cute little scene commission to do, and then two dog portraits. Well, one of them is a commission and the other is a surprise gift for someone. I am also working on my own project: that deep-sea mermaid I posted the sketch of awhile back. I've finally gotten around to painting her! It's slow going because of my hours at work, but I am making good progress and I really like how it's going so far. Woo! Maybe I'll post some in-progress photos soon.

It's Sunday morning and I am such a happy girl. Yesterday was the most pleasant day one could ask for. The Boyfriend and I slept in, then went for a drive with the windows rolled down (I love crisp air and cold wind, I'm telling you). After our drive we went for a barefoot walk on his street, just so I could be outside for a little more. Then we showered and cuddled, watched some television... his parents took us out for dinner and then we came back to my house to sleep.
Beautiful day.

We were going to go sailing with my dad today, but the wind is too powerful and the temp. too cold. They shut down the sailing school yesterday because of the conditions so we were thinking that it's probably not a good idea for us newbs to try our hand at rough weather...
So instead Mr. Boyfriend is sleeping in and I am catching up on my email and internets. Then I think I'm going to go read.

Tomorrow is another day at work, and even though I have to get up early AND have a long day ahead of me, I really don't mind. The days go by so quickly in the cafe anyway that I'll be home and in Boyfriend's arms before I know it!
Given the commissions that have popped up I think I'm going to have to sketch during my breaks instead of read. Both of the commissions I'm doing need to be finished up by November, which is fast approaching.

What else? My tattoo is healing well. I think she might peel again but I'm not sure.
Now I'm just trying to solve the puzzle that is the rest of my arm. I don't know what should go next to Brunhilda. I just don't know! I think a portrait of some kind (but a stylized/weird one). I just don't know.

Well anyway, I'm off to read!

photos

Some photos...

A slightly bloody version of my new Pokemon tattoo! Milotic! The scab just fell off this past week, and it is healing quite nicely so far. If you don't know, Milotic is the one on the bottom. It looks painted on because it's brand new. The one above is a Pokemon called Combee.

This is how my sleeve looks so far. I am also going to be adding tattoos right under Brunhilda, next to her on her left, and on the back of that arm. The sleeve is a slow process so far but it's coming along!

My dog and me.

I have to put my hair up for work while it's still wet. I've been doing buns lately so when I come home and let my hair down it's all nice and curly. I wish it looked this styled every day but alas I have the straightest hair known to man normally.

Time to go!

routine

I am slowly developing a routine. I'm doing a lot better at work than even I was last week. Another full week completed and I've made a bunch of drinks now, I'm pretty confident in my abilities and now just need to get faster and also more familiar with the answers to questions customers ask about our drinks (i.e. I don't know everything that's in them, like how much coffee in a frappuchino vs. how much in something else).

I was able work on some art stuff this past week, and I'm hoping that soon I'll be able to do even more. I plan on drawing and painting all day after work on Wednesday.

Still no Etsy sales. I'm going to stop listing prints and list other things instead that would incorporate my art work yet be a useful item as well. So instead of offering just an image, I would offer a journal with that same image on it. I just have to figure out how to do something like that.

Being an artist is dang hard... because if you want it to be more than just a hobby, you have to really frickin' work at it! It takes so much time to create the work and then there's the whole marketing side, and the luck side... I just don't know. I'm trying really hard but things aren't going anywhere as of yet. I know that I could be doing more but now I am focusing a lot of my energy at work as well. So... I need to find a good balance. I still want to do some work to submit to various companies that I would love working for. It's something I want to do sooner rather than later, but time is definitely an issue for me lately.

Well I think I am going to go putz around now.