Ceramics!

Hey guys!

I am selling some of my lovely ceramic pieces on Etsy.com to help pay my bills and such. So please feel free to check them out, and tell your friends about them! Each piece is truly unique!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kitskylark

That's the link to my shop on Etsy!

Sending love to you all.

Job for Geoffrey!

Geoff got the email today!

After his interview/skills test/written test for the job with CARE Ambulance, this week he finally got "the email", which was to say that he was offered the job of a full time EMT with the company!! We're both super excited. Of course, this means he will be working shifts that are usually around 12 hours each, (minimum of 9 hours, max of 24 hours,) which will be lonely for me and Tails, but at least it's work! And I'm glad it's something Geoff loves to do.

Tomorrow, to celebrate, we are going on a picnic with Tails.

(His first journey outside into the grass at the park! ... Tails, I mean. Not Geoff.)

I'm very excited because that means it will tire him out (hopefully). Right now, he is darting around the living room throwing his new toy in the air and chasing after it. He likes to jump really high and land in Geoff's giant bean bag chair. It's super funny, but I wish we could let him run around outside. He beats me whenever we race down the hallway of the apartments. (He is so fast, it's hilarious. And he jumps so high! He would make a great agility dog.)

I just finished my commission to design the book cover/website image for my latest client. This project has changed so much since we started, and it's just taken so long, I'm so glad it's finally done. And I'll get the second half of my paycheck soon from the author, so that will be helpful. When the book gets published, I'll let you know so you can go see my image on the cover! Hehe. That's exciting.

To celebrate being done with that project, I made lemon bars! So now I'm going to go tend to those, and work on my next project--MY book! Wish me luck!

Tails

Last week, Geoff and I sent in an application for a puppy we saw a video of on Craig's List. He was taken out of a shelter in rural Kern County, and was being fostered by a woman working for the "Southland Sheltie Rescue Group". The puppy was weird looking--unlike any dog we've ever seen. He was tan and white and scruffy all over, with wavy fur and the hugest ears. He looked like OUR dog. So, we sent in an application. Soon after, I went through the phone interview, and later the home check. In about a week's time, we'd adopted a 10 pound fox-like puppy, and everything seemed just how it should be.

His name is "Tails" and he is a 5 month old Sheltie x Papillon mix (supposedly).

We decided to name him Tails because he looks so much like a little fox, and jumps so high, he can almost fly. You will recall we once owned a little hedgehog named "Sonic". Well, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the old Sega Genesis game "Sonic the Hedgehog", Sonic, the main character, had a trusty sidekick who was a fox with two tails, named appropriately, "Tails". This character could fly by rapidly whipping his tails around like a helicopter, and is the inspiration for the name we chose.

He is a typical puppy--running and playing like crazy, and then crashing in a heap of sleepy fur. He doesn't know much about walking on a leash yet, and repeatedly trips us on our otherwise peaceful strolls down the street. The vet says he probably won't get any more than 15 pounds at the most. It's kind of funny to have such a small creature running around, as Geoff and I have always loved big dogs. But, Tails is perfect for our lifestyle and our living situation. (We can basically exercise him in the apartment! Haha.)

He is also, as you can see, a great partner and inspiration for my "working from home" time! I am working on my next book, and also working on self-publishing "The Gift". I'm not going to post a ton of details on here, but you can email me if you want details about my plans. Hopefully, by next month, (cross your fingers!) I'll be publishing around 1,000 copies of my book and selling them from my website and from my home. Details are slowly unfolding, and I will keep you all up to date! I'm super excited!

Goodnight for now. It's time to put our sleepy puppy to bed. Love to you all!

Aquahydrate

So, the job search goes on.

I did sign on with one company through a friend though.

I've been working this event called "Crossfit" for a high performance sports water company called "Aquahydrate". It's a really great water, and I know a ton about it now, so feel free to ask me and I'll give you my sales pitch. ;) For now, I'll spare you. But let's just say, it's the only water I'll buy now!

This Crossfit event is a SUPER intense competition with people from all over the world doing these really intense competitive work-outs to be "the world's fittest" athlete. It's pretty cool. So basically, as event staff, I went in to the venue and worked at the booth telling people about the water and handing out samples for a few hours each day. We had our final day today, and the Aquahydrate guys are keeping my information so they can call me for the next event! It's been lots of fun, so I'm glad I at least have this part-time job. :)

That's all for now!

By the way...

... If anyone has any helpful tips on how to store things in a small space, I'd love to hear them. Think storing larger items too... I've heard about hanging things and installing shelves, but none of that seems to appeal. The best idea I've come up with for storing larger items is buying one of those folding room dividers and putting it in front of my stack of bins.

What do you think?

Summer Day

Well, we're back at our new home, after having gone out to Redlands again to clean up the old place a little bit. Bryce is still there, so we are just trying to get all our stuff out so that when he moves, we can do the walk-through right away and get that security deposit back!

Today, Geoff and I were invited to attend the Nickelodeon company picnic with Angelico's family! We drove up to Burbank and spent the day at the studios, enjoying the carnival themed party they have every year for the employees. (Angelico's mom is an animator for Sponge-bob Square Pants.) They handed out water guns so everyone was spraying each other in the nice, warm weather. There was a ton of free carnival food, arcade games, and circus entertainment people. The photo is of my "loot" that Geoff (and Angelico) won for me at the carnival games!

My favorite is definitely the lobster. And also the walrus.

We also got a personal tour of Nickelodeon studios. Their workspace is SO cute. I would kill to work in a place like that some day. Bright colors and enlarged sketches everywhere... And Angelico's mother had this HUGE tablet in her cubicle space that I got to oogle over for a while. Some day! :)

Anyway, I've gotta run back to unpacking and such. Just thought I'd update you all on our day! Hope the heat isn't getting to you too much out there... I hear it's been unusually steamy on the East Coast. Try to stay cool!

Much love from the West!

New Apartment!

Hello family!

I know it's been a long time since I've been able to update, but luckily I've been able to keep in contact with most of you via Email. Geoff and I have just moved into our new place in Long Beach! It's been a lot of work with just the two of us, and we are still surrounded by boxes, but it's coming along, and we are SO happy to have a place of our own. We will truly miss Bryce a LOT, but I am glad we have a nice quiet place to live anyway. We are only 3 blocks from the ocean too! It's much cooler here than in Redlands, so Geoff is loving that.

We made the move with the big van and everything on Tuesday. I was throwing up the whole morning, between carrying boxes out to the truck, so Geoff unfortunately had to do most of the loading work that morning. Figures I'd reach the peak of my sickness on THAT day I needed strength and health. Murphy's Law, right? Anyway, we managed. I was healthy enough by the time we got to the apartment to help unload all the stuff... We are still sore from it though! It's crazy how much stuff we've acquired over the years.

Long Beach is a super cute place... I love the area we're in. We are right by the Aquarium and nice restaurants, but also by a strip of a ton of thrift stores and locally run coffee shops. It reminds me a lot of Northampton sometimes... but beachy-er. Everyone has dogs and cats so there is a dog park nearby, and lots of people walking out on the sidewalks. The people in our building seem super friendly--they all introduce themselves, and some even helped us move the heavier items (thank goodness!).

Anyway, that's all for now. Geoff and I have unpacking to do, and are going to walk down the street to the doggy day care center to see if they are hiring. I would really love to work with animals if I could. :) We love it here!

Talk to you later!

Much love to you all.