New Chapter: Madison:)

Hey everyone! Sorry for being off the grid for so long. Turns out moving to a new city and starting a new job can kinda take a lot out of a person. ;) I've been wanting so badly to share some photos of my new apartment with you, but to be honest, I've just been really busy, and I also have a few more things I want to 'perfect' before I show you. I'm so weird, ha! In the mean time, I figured I'd share some random photos from my first couple weeks here. I've been enjoying myself so much, and I feel weird saying it, but it's already starting to feel more like home to me than Milwaukee ever did. Not sure how considering I've only been here two weeks?! I think it's a combination of things. I've spent A LOT of time here over the past year, so it's familiar to me, and I think it obviously helps to have people here that make it feel so natural and comfortable. I'm hoping as I get settled in the job too, I'll become even more engrained in the city and my life here. I will admit, my first week was pretty long, and it was quite intense, but I think that's pretty normal when starting over at a new place. I will have lots of opportunities to grow in this role, so I'm pretty excited to see how things go. Wish me luck! All that said, enjoy some pics and live vicariously through me! ;)

 Gorgeous sunset!

 The front of my work building!

 L picked me up from work, and we got stranded because it rained so hard that the roads flooded!

 The week got much nicer and I saw this view as I left work on Friday evening!

 L's office overlooks this view of the stadium. How cool!

 L's work building!

 When I got the job, L told me he wanted to buy me a bike. He just got this bike above (kinda ridiculous, right?!;), and we decided when I moved to Madison that we wanted to explore some local trails and stuff. The following pics show some pretty cool things we saw along our trip yesterday. We did about 8 miles, and let me tell ya, the pain in my legs is unlike anything I've ever experienced, ha. I literally almost cried in the middle of the night! Gotta get myself into better shape, clearly;).

 

 Me on my new bike! Per a few requests based on my Instagram pic, here is a link to my bike. It's actually a boy's bike. I wasn't too into some of the 'girly' designs, so I thought this one was pretty slick! Seems to suit me pretty well too!

 

 

 How silly do our bikes look next to each other, ha!

 

 

 

 Beautiful view on one of our bike trails!

 

 How gorgeous is this?! Looks like a painting!

Love this shot! And there ya have it. What a great day!

Apartment Hunt!

Hey there! Hope you all have had a great Labor Day weekend! I had L here for the weekend, so we got to spend lots of time together, I got to eat delicious food, and I got some packing done too! I'm sad it's already over, but I guess this just puts me another day closer to living in Madison! :) Many of you are probably still wondering what I'll even be doing in my new job, and I'll get to that eventually, I swear. I just wanted to share some of the more 'immediate' things with you so you can have a sense of what I've been up to lately!

Just to give you a quick little timeline. I had a phone interview for the new job on 7/25. I had an in-person interview for the position on 7/31. I was told that they would hopefully be able to make an offer around 8/12, but unfortunately for me, it took until 8/21 for them to get word from HR to give me the offer. Doesn't sound like THAT long, but it made a big difference in terms of when I'd be done with my current position, when I'd start there, etc. Definitely not going to complain too much, though, because I still got the job! :) Again, I'll go into more details about the new job (hopefully) soon, but that's kind of what I've been working with from a timeframe perspective. My last day at UWM will be this coming Friday, 9/6. Kinda crazy to have it be during a short week. I feel like everything will fly by so fast! I hope I can handle it. ;)

The main purpose of this entry is to share some details about what I've been trying to figure out logistically. You see, getting this job is a blessing in SO many ways, but thinking about how to move to a new city while trying to find someone to take your current apartment is kind of a nightmare. To give you some context, my lease in my Milwaukee apartment was set to go until April 2014. That's a long time from now when you think about having to be responsible for that rent, eek! Prior to even getting offered the job, I contacted my landlord about what my options were, thinking that she'd most likely suggest or require me to sublease the place. For those who don't know, to have a subleaser in your apartment means that someone is taking over the rent, but that you're still kind of on the hook in the event that something gets destroyed or anything crazy like that. Because I don't know too many people in MKE, I was hesitant about having a stranger sublease from me, and lucky for me, my landlord was fantastic and said that as long as I could find someone who wanted the apartment, she would wipe my lease clean and start fresh with the new tenant. How perfect! But that being said, that still required me to find someone, to show the apartment, and to be responsible for the rent until I found a new tenant. That meant I could potentially be on the hook until April if no one wanted it. Because of that, I was incredibly hesitant to commit to an apartment in Madison until I got rid of this one since I obviously wouldn't be able to afford two rents. Talk about being in a weird limbo situation! The original plan was basically that I would temporarily live with L until I got rid of my apartment and until something good opened up in Madison. That 'temporary' arrangement could last a couple weeks or a couple of months, all due to variables I had little control over. If you know me, you know that made me freak out! But get this, folks. My landlord posted an ad for my apartment last week Monday, I showed the apartment to someone that same night (and got several other calls that day), and the girl who I showed the apartment to ended up signing the lease a few days later. Say what?! On top of that, since I'm moving out and starting my job mid-month, the new tenant covered half the rent for September (which I was fully prepared to pay if it meant getting someone in here sooner). Awesome! In this whole process, I had also been in contact with L's landlord who manages a couple different properties in Madison. She was unbelievably helpful throughout the process, and while she and I had originally talked about me potentially renting from her in October or later, it turned out that she had a couple September apartments open up, and because I was approved in the application process, now I can move straight in to one apartment from the other. YES! (Having moved several times in college, I can fully appreciate this because usually there is at least a day of awkwardness where you have to be out of one place but you can't be in the next place for a bit. Hate it!) What's cool about that too is that since I'm not moving in until 9/9, I will not have to pay the entire rent for September. Man, oh man. I hate to say this, but could it have gone any better?! I really don't think it could have! Unreal.

Now here's the teeny kicker. I have committed to this apartment (well, not completely since the lease won't get signed until I move in) without ever seeing my actual apartment in person. Ahhhh! This is a BIG deal for me. It's a big decision, and believe it or not, the rent is significantly more expensive in Madison than what I pay now. Making the decision to take it was a hard one for me because I don't like the unknown. The only reason I felt comfortable doing so is because I know what the floor plan looks like (see below), and L's sister used to live in the same complex and really liked it. A couple of the biggest perks I have with the new apartment that I don't have now include: underground parking, a washer and dryer IN my apartment, a pantry, a walk-in closet, a pool, and a fitness center. Oh, not to mention, my building is pretty much right next to L's building. I can walk to his place in less than a minute. Pretty awesome, huh?! I sure hope it all works out well! First couple months will be a little tight with money, but I think all will get settled and I'll be happy. I am super excited about moving in right away on Monday, because then I have the whole week to unpack, relax, explore, etc. It should be great! I'm not sure it's fully hit me yet, and I think I will feel a bit sad about leaving Milwaukee. That being said, I think my excitement about this new job, new city, new life in general will help ease the pain. ;) I can't wait to keep sharing more with you. Until then, take a look at my floor plan! :)

Feeling Inspired!

I'm not sure what's gotten into me over the past couple days, but I've been spending FAR too much time online looking at various crafty items that are makin' me feel all inspired. :) Awhile back, I mentioned a bit of a 'dream wish' to make a bunch of fun items (well, mostly envelopes) and sell them on Etsy, but quite honestly, I've never known where to begin. I still don't. But that doesn't mean I can't try to find ideas and think of ways to make that happen someday. These thoughts are seriously what get me through my daily life sometimes. I mean, I know I have a good life, but I often dream about what it would be like if I could be so good at making crafts and doing things I really love that I could 'live' on that. Or at least bring in some income from it. L and I sometimes talk about that too. We can get ourselves in a decent place financially and then I could do this as my job. Will it ever happen? Probably not? But the possibility makes me swoon. :)

Anyway, there are a couple of things that are really exciting me lately. First, I have been doing some research on the Adobe Creative Suite of programs as a way to help me tap into my creativity and design things like cards and invites. It's a long shot, and I don't know that I'll ever do it, but I'm thinking about buying CS6 because I can get it for $199 through the university. In case that still sounds like a lot to you, keep in mind that if you were to buy it on Adobe's site, it would cost you a whopping $1,299 for the version I'd get. Seriously, I don't know how that's even possible. The Suite includes the following programs, some of which I don't even know what they do: Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, Acrobat X Pro, Bridge CS6, and Media Coder CS6. More than I'd ever need, but such a great deal. I've found some pretty good resources online that would help teach me the programs, but that is definitely more of a long-term goal. Just keeping my options open, and if I ever leave my job, I will be sure to order it before I go. ;)

The second thing I'm pumped about is that I got back to making a few envelopes the other night. Pretty simple, but kinda fun. I like the color combo, and I'm a fan of tiny envelopes! I really enjoy playing with different color schemes and patterns, so these are just a couple that I've come up with recently.

 

Beyond the envelopes, I started thinking about how it might be cool to either buy or make some fun stickers to include with those envelopes if I ever get around to selling them. I do have a product called Lick & Stick that allows you to role on a 'liquid,' and that liquid dries into the same stuff that's put on regular envelopes to seal them. You can lick it and everything, hence the name. So, up until now, I've just been using that or some glue to seal the envelopes. However, if people were to buy them, I thought having some stickers to seal the envelopes could be kind of fun too. Maybe I'd still put the 'glue' on there too and just give them the option to do either or. The cool gold glittery stickers below are jumping out at me right now (I love the triangular shape as well as the glitter), but of course they'd only go with certain envelopes. That would be my problem. So many of my envelopes have sassy patterns, so I'm not sure there's really a one-size-fits-all type of sticker for me. That doesn't mean I can't still love 'em. ;)

Courtesy of INKKIT

As I was looking through shops for triangle stickers, I also happened to run across a few other items that are just way cool in my opinion. I can't even possibly link to all the Etsy shops that I looked at today because I'm pretty sure it was about a billion of 'em, but there were a few things that made me feel really excited about the possibilities that could be in my future. One of those items, as weird as it sounds, is tissue paper confetti. I have always wanted to do something like that, and seeing that others do it too is pretty fun and makes me feel less crazy. Another item is tissue paper poms. I watched a number of tutorial videos tonight, and they seem way easier to make than they should. Now, I haven't tried them, so I shouldn't say that, because I will probably 'f' them up when I try, ha! But still. It's fun and easy and cheap compared to buying them for too much money in the store. Some of the people in Etsy who sell these types of items have sold so many products and have such great feedback, and I think to myself, "Hey, that could be me someday!" I'll just be counting on all of you to help me promote myself. ;) Below is some inspiration.

 Courtesy of PomLove

Courtesy of createandadorn

On a somewhat related note, many of you know that I have an unhealthy relationship with wrapping paper. I mean seriously, it's a problem. I don't even have any presents to wrap at the moment, but I have bought 9 new rolls within the last month alone. Damn it, Target! Walgreens has also been snagging me. I usually wait to pick up my prescription (birth control, eee;), and while I wait, I always seem to find myself in the party supplies aisle. It's dangerous. It's so bad that sometimes I don't even tell L that I bought more for fear that he'll judge me, ha! Anyway, with that love of wrapping paper also comes a pretty strong affinity for tissue paper as well. I always have some on hand and get excited whenever I see new patterns and designs. That dang Cartwheel app I mentioned recently hasn't helped with this problem either because there is currently a 10% coupon off one of Target's brands of tissue paper. I may or may not have spent a load of money tonight buying a bunch of tissue paper to add to my already large collection. At some point, I've gotta stop, but I credit this purchase on being inspired, so I figured I better roll with it. (Man, am I good at justifying my spending or what?!;) Below is a picture of the different tissue paper I bought tonight...

  (Don't mind the weird brown spots on my floor. My carpet is weird, ha.)

All that tissue paper made even more fun with a box to store it in. I already owned the box, don't worry;).

Based on the inspiration above, I think this tissue paper will come in very handy. Confetti, pom poms, the ideas are endless! :) Not to mention, it's just fun to adorn gifts with such pretty designs. I only wish everyone shared the same appreciate for pretty paper that I do. Oh well. And this brings me to another somewhat impulsive set of purchases. Because I'm weirdly into the confetti idea for some reason, I thought to myself, "How on earth am I going to make that happen?" Fortunately, I have a former scrapbooking background, and I used to be insane with the amount of stuff I had. I actually still have a lot of it, and it's proving to come in handy all these years later. Anyway, from those days, I remember these little 'punch' tools that I had, and so I started searching online for some of those. Boy, did I find some... Below are the ones I ordered. I think they will be pretty cool, and I'm excited for them to come in the mail! I think they will also be cool for decorating cards and envelopes too. Man, exciting! (All products courtesy of EK Tools.)

 1" Circle Punch

 Flag Punch

 1" Scallop Punch

 Swirls Punch

1/8" Circle Punch (I'm thinking of cutting these teeny holes in some of the other shapes to possibly create little banners or chains or something. Something kinda like this, except cooler;). Not really sure how that will go, but the little tool was only $4.99, and ordering it allowed me to get free shipping. Score!

The last thing really catching my eyes these days is something called Washi Tape. Ever heard of it? Yeah, me neither. Here's a description in case you're curious. There are tons of people on Etsy that sell the stuff. I can't believe I didn't know it existed until now! Why it intrigues me is because it could potentially allow me to buy more 'plain' colors of paper (cheaper) for envelopes and then spruce up the envelopes with the tape. Sounds kinda fun, right?! I have no idea how it would work, so I suppose I should just get a trial roll or two before I buy like the 25 rolls in my Etsy cart right now, huh? ;) Here's a taste of a few rolls I have my eye on.

Courtesy of TapeToGo (above and below)

 Courtesy of ModernTape

Courtesy of whimsicalcraftss (above and below)

So, there you have it, folks. This post has quite a few random thoughts in it, but that's just where my head is at right now. I am just really excited about this stuff. Even if I never try to sell it, or if I do and no one buys it, at least I'm having fun tapping into my creative side and treating my loved ones to some pretty things. I must confess, it's right now that I miss being in my old two-bedroom apartment because that spare bedroom would come in way handy at this point. It could have been my little craft room! How fun. Maybe someday I'll end up with a room like that. I think me and L would both love to have a room in a house that allowed us an opportunity just escape and create, so perhaps that is in my future after all. ;) Anyway, I'll keep you posted as this progresses! Thanks for reading!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend and that you're surviving the week. Just wanted to do a fun post about the great weekend I had. As you may recall, a bunch of friends got together for a Brewer game and an extended weekend. There was lots going on all weekend long, so it went fast, but it was a great time!

L came down on Friday night, and much to our (unfortunate) surprise, I didn't have hot water. The day before, our landlord had emailed us that the hot water was out, but on Friday morning, I had a hot shower, so it was odd to have it be cold again. Come to find out, they had just done a temporary fix, so that's why I got a hot shower on Friday. He suffered through a freezing cold shower, and his sound effects were quite hilarious. We went to bed having been told that the water would get fixed in the morning. Sadly for me, it wasn't ready in time for us to go, so I just washed my hair with cold water to get ready, and we went on our way to our friend Matt's house. He hosted the event, so that's where everyone congregated. We had 3 vehicles for the Brewer game, and we all managed to get in the FRONT row for tailgating. It.was.awesome. We tailgated from noon until the game started, and then we headed into the stadium. Most of us didn't even go to our seats (which was kind of to be expected based on how the event went last year), and we hung out in a bar in the stadium for quite some time. I must admit, the end of that and the post-game tailgate is a bit of a blur for me... ;) After the game, we went back to Matt's place and everyone hung out there. Sadly, I think we were in bed by 10:00, ha!

On Sunday, we got up and went for brunch, and then we found like the one and only bar in downtown Waukesha that happened to be open and went there for a good chunk of the day. It actually ended up being a really cool place and we had a great time. After that, a couple of the people in our group had us over to their house. They live on a lake, and it was really pretty. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold out, so our original plan to go full-on boating didn't happen. We did, however, go out on a pontoon, which was fun. After boating, L and I decided to go back to my place that night. We didn't get home until like 11:00pm, so that sucked, and what sucked even more is that we found out my apartment was STILL out of hot water. Seriously?! If you know L, you know that he absolutely loves his night showers, so he was not a happy camper. We went to bed not long after we got home and just hung out for a bit on Monday before he went back. My whole Monday felt a bit 'off' because of the water situation, and I was sad to have L leave. Fortunately for me, I get to see him tomorrow night already because I head to Madison so we can leave for Florida on Friday. Can't wait!!!!!! (The water was finally fixed yesterday around noon. Since it was six days without water, I requested a credit in rent, but my landlord ignored me, go figure.) Oh well. Anyway, all in all, a great weekend, and I've included lots of photos below for those of you who haven't seen any yet.

Before leaving my apartment to meet everyone!

 

 Ladies of the tailgate! We were there so early that we parked in line and waited for them to let people into the lot. This resulted in front row parking for all three of our vehicles. Who the heck knew you could drink in line before they even let you into the lot?! I sure didn't.

Just a small portion of our delicious spread!

The boys were excited about Smith Bros. brats and hotdogs. :)

Leave it to my camera lighting to be a bit funny. I like this pic though! (Me, Erin, & T)

L's friends from his high school days. Great guys!

 

The whole crew before the game!

Inside the bar we stayed at most of the time:).

 All the beautiful ladies. I love this picture!

L and his boys (above and below).

Me and T in the bar!

A little drunk? ;)

Leaving the game. This pic is so random. I love it!

A few of the ladies!

I don't know what we're laughing at, but I love this picture. :)

Back at Matt's after the game!

The next day, we went to L's friend's daughter's first birthday party for a bit. After that is when we went to a bar and to the friend's place who live on a lake. Great times!

 L having fun blowing bubbles for Dylan to chase.

 Oh, num num. Cake!!

Goofy faces.

 Me and L at Bernie's Tap Room in Waukesha. Fun! (Disregard my sunburned face;).

View of the crew from inside the bar. Neat place!

 Feeding the fishies and waiting for the pontoon!

On the boat! :)