No bridezilla here!

I refuse to be a bridezilla. I want to be as low maintenance as possible. By having this "non-traditional party" instead of a regular reception, I feel like it takes some pressure off of my shoulders. I mean, I don't have to worry about centerpieces or a band or dj. And I don't have to worry about them screwing up. I figure, if there's no real plan, there's nothing to screw up! :-)

I am being a little traditional though. I keep buying bridal magazines and books. I got my Anti-bride Guide which has proved to be very helpful so far. Then I got a book called Neon Nuptials, all about Vegas weddings. Well, guess what. It rated the MGM chapel as the number 1 hotel chapel in vegas! YAY!! It was rated in 4 categories. Kitsch (or vegas cheesiness), cleanliness, romance quotient, and comfort. And it got the top rating in all except kitsch, where it got the lowest rating, thank God! I know when some people do the vegas thing, they want the cheese, but i prefer a cheese-free wedding! (Unless it's on crackers with some pepperoni.)

Oh, and I got a book this weekend about how to find the best wedding bargains and stuff. It seems like it'll be helpful because I know nothing about buying flowers or cake. It tells you what to ask for. For example, it said that fresh flowers is much cheaper on a cake than edible sugar flower thingies. Speaking of cakes and flowers, I saved some photos of things that I like. Here are a few of my favorites:










Well, I booked the Skyloft last week! Phew! That was really the only part I cared about. I mean, a chapel is a chapel, but the Skyloft was way cooler than any other Suite I could find. My parents came over this weekend to look at the info I'd gathered. They are being so wonderful and helpful with this. They told me to go for whatever I want, it's my decision! Well, I really want to have the dinner at the Japanese restaurant. It's called Shibuya. Here are some photos:





We'll see though. I have some time to decide. I am getting so excited!!!!

June 15, 2006

Well, since most of my blog readers already know, I figure I'd make it official and announce the fact that Rob and I are getting married on June 15th of 2006! YAY!! Here's the deal. The whole idea of getting "hitched" in Vegas while out there for the HOW Conference started as a joke. Ya know, since we aren't the kind of people to spend a fortune on some boring foofy wedding anyway. But as we talked about it more and more, it seemed like the perfect idea!

I weighed the options. Get married in Jersey at some hokey reception hall, dancing to YMCA, and having the night end at 10pm. Or get married in a hotel chapel, go out for a fancy dinner, and party all night long with the people I love! Hmm. Tough one. I might have been more inclined to have a traditional wedding if either of us had a lot of relatives, but at the most, there'd be 50 people. That's like 5 tables full. Sad. But you know what? This Vegas wedding is going to be way more fun that I ever would have expected!!

Here's the plan. We're going to get married on the last day of the conference. That way, my HOWie friends will still be around, hopefully. Plus, that leaves me Fri-Sun to enjoy myself in Vegas without worrying about a wedding. So the day time will involve some spa time with my ladies. Then a limo trip to the courthouse for our license. Then the ceremony here at the MGM Forever Grand Chapel.



After that, we do some pictures and stuff. And then off to one of the fine dining restaurants in the hotel. I really want to do the Japanese one because I loooooove Japanese food, but I know not everyone is into that, so we're going to have to figure that one out. And then, after dinner, comes the best part of the night!

Party at the Skylofts at MGM Grand! This place is freaking awesome, and the main reason I want to get married out there! It's supa-fly. Seriously. We're getting the 2 bedroom, 3000 sq ft skyloft. Here are some photos so you can see just how fantabulous it really is.







I figure we'll have some wine, champagne, play some pool, and mingle like high class wannabe's. :-) This is my dream wedding! Rob's relatives are more excited than we are. They can't wait to go to Vegas. We thought at first that we'd have trouble getting everyone out there since it's a far trip, but everyone wants to go! Even people we really didn't want to invite! Haha! We were trying to keep it small but we're already at over 40 and the list grows everyday.

So, well, that's it! I am so so so excited about it!! This is going to be the par-tay of the century! Hope ya'll can make it! ;-)

It's beginning to look a lot like chri...uh, the holidays

Got my tree up this weekend! YIPPEEEEE!!!! I look forward to putting up my tree all year! It really makes me feel close to my grandmother, who died a little over a year ago. Decorating for Christmas was her forte. She must have had an entire walk-in closet dedicated to decorations. No one in my family had spirit like she did, except for me.

After she died, my grandfather gave me her favorite tree, along with the ornaments. She had two (fake) trees. A huge full one that she decorated with red and green traditional holiday ornaments. And then she had this tall, skinny tree that she decorated all victorian, filled with mostly angel ornaments. I used to admire the way she was able to make her tree look like it came straight out of Better Homes and Gardens. So when I got her tree, I vowed to decorate it as I had always remembered. I think she'd be proud.

Here are some photos:








Also, just wanted to mention that we're supposed to get up to 8 inches of snow tonight. I'm bummed. I hate it. No matter what, I have to go to work unless there is a state of emergency. My commute already sucks. It's going to take me three hours to get to work tomorrow morning! The worst part?? I know Rob's school will be canceled and he'll be all snuggly in bed while I get ready to drudge my way through the snow. Yuck. I sure hope the weather people are exaggerating.

Shoulda made that t-shirt

Had a great time at the show last night!! Well, there were a few snags. At the Tin Angel, you get preferred seating if you eat at their (very expensive) restaurant downstairs. The Tin Angel is long and skinny and the front half is preferred seating and the back half is the bar and standing room. So we ate there, even though we could have eaten at Subway for like 5 bucks. Well, they forgot to put our name on the preferred seating list or something, so our table was at the back of that section. That was a little disappointing because we made our reservation weeks ago, which I thought would have us a little closer. But whatever.

The concert was beautiful. Matt and Ben were hilarious and had me cracking up most of the night. Gotta love intimate shows! And thanks to a myspace.com contest, I had passes to meet Matt and Ben after the show. Woohoo!! :-D After the show, Rob, Rob's coworker Phuong, and I hung out with Aqualung's manager for a little while. He's super nice. And after they were done signing autographs and stuff, we were able to go to their little back room. Thank god Rob is personable. He was able to talk to Matt and Ben while I stood there all nervous! And I kinda felt bad because they were eating dinner, so we only stayed a few minutes. I didn't propose, I got shy. So I guess I'll just marry Rob instead. :-)



But before we left, I got me a photo!!!




That's Ben on the left, Matt in the middle, and a very excited Melissa on the right! Can you tell how giddy I was?! Well, that pretty much made my night. My week. My month. Ahhhh. I know I'm too old to be a groupie, but I just can't help it sometimes, ya know??

I'm totally going to make a sign!

How excited am I?? Seriously. For you regular readers, all three of you, you might remember my post a few weeks ago about the Aqualung show and how it knocked my socks off. Yeah, I've had Strange + Beautiful on repeat playing in my office everyday since then. :-) Well, how lucky am I that I found out he's back! And this one will be way better than the last, if that's possible.

He's playing at the Tin Angel which happens to be my favorite venue ever. It's this tiny little room that holds 115 people and the stage is like 4x4ft. And if you have dinner downstairs they give you "preferred seating." We did this once and our "preferred seating" was basically on the stage! The opening act threw his hat down and it hit Rob in the chest! It was almost uncomfortable being that close, but there's no way I'll be uncomfortable this time! I think I need to make a sign. "I heart Aqualung." Hmm, the people behind me might get pissed. And Matt and Ben will be so close that they probably won't be able to see it. Maybe I should just write it on my hand instead.

Although I've always wanted to make a sign for a concert or sporting event, because I know my sign would blow the other signs out of the water. I could do charicatures. Haha! Or use feathers and glitter! Hmm, I'll have to consider that. They might think I'm a total weirdo, but let's be honest....I am. :-)

Here's another photo for your (okay, my) viewing pleasure:


In case anyone from the Philly area is reading this, here's the info:
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
8:30pm
Tin Angel
20 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
www.tinangel.com

Life as an in-house designer

Pass the TUMS please!

Last Saturday Rob and I went to Collingswood, NJ, a cute little town about 20 minutes from our house. They were having some sort of Halloween type festival, with pumpkins and scarecrows and baked goods. Um, we never found it, but we went to main street to get some lunch. I wanted to go to this new place called The Pop Shop. It's like a 1940's soda fountain type place. So cute! Their menus are like little newspapers and there's a ton of stuff on there. All junk food, just how I like it!!

We started with some boneless buffalo wings, and they were scrumtrulescent! I had trouble deciding what to get, but I eventually settled on this masterpiece:



Oh yum! It was a foot long hot dog with grilled onions and cheese whiz!! Doesn't it clog your arteries just looking at it??? If it wasn't so cold on Saturday, I would have gotten an ice cream sundae. Rob got a milkshake and it was tasty. Oh man, now I'm hungry.

Here's a pic of Rob eating:



And here's one of me. My hair is so annoyingly long and flat. The hostess thought I was a weirdo for taking a picture of myself in the restaurant.



Look Devon! I'm wearing your colors!! ;-)

Okay, now I need to go find some food. I know it'll just be a disappointment though. Nothing can compare to that "heart attack waiting to happen" that I had on Saturday.

Ahh, I can type again!

I've had a disability recently that I like to call Krueger nail syndrome. My nails just kept growing and growing and being as lazy as I am, I didn't cut them. I mean, it's not like I just have to cut them. I have to cut, file and buff them! That's a lot of work. Well, daily tasks such as typing and buttoning buttons had become very tedious. So yesterday I finally did it. I cut them down. Inspired by my HOWgirls, Devon and Mary, here are pics of my nails.



Ahh, much more manageable. I did, however, get two compliments on my long-ass nails recently. A man at the Gap said they were "beautiful" which was weird. And a lady at an antique store said "with nails like that, you should be wearing rings!" Of course, she was trying to sell me rings, so I take that with a grain of salt. ;-)

Also, I had mentioned something a while ago about posting pics of some cards I made. They are all the same design, just different papers. I made 24 of these a few weeks ago. 6 of each card.



It's another gloomy, rainy day in Philly. I miss the sunlight. My office gets nice and toasty when the sun blasts through the windows. But not today. Oh well, at least with all this rain, it's detered me from going to get starbucks, which is saving me loads of cash!

Well, have a lovely day blog readers!

Zooman and the Busy Weekend

Howdy partners! Haven't posted in a little while, though I've been meaning to for the entire past week. I took photos of the new cards that I made last weekend and I wanted to post them, but I keep forgetting to import them. Things have been busy, as usual. I think I need to consider taking a mental health day this week, just to catch up on some home stuff.

Last Thursday night was the Weezer/Foo Fighters show. I heart Weezer. I heart Rivers. I had this whole idea that they wouldn't be that entertaining though because of what a friend told me once, but they put on an awesome show! Totally interactive. I usually only go to tiny cheap shows, so I almost forgot what it was like to be in a big with everyone singing along. That's such a great feeling! At one point, for the sweater song, the band invited an audience member up on stage to play acoustic guitar. He was great! That kid must have been so thrilled! Can you imagine how that must have felt?! I was really excited for him! Anyway, highly recommended! Foo Fighters on the other hand wasn't really my style. Dave Grohl just screams a lot, and I'm not into that. By that point in the night, my head hurt and I was sleepy. So we got home late only to wake up early the next morning.

And on Friday, it was another day of not going home after work. Our friends, Dave and Lori, were getting married. It was a beautiful wedding, which surprised us. They're hippies, so we pictured them having a hippie wedding, but it was totally traditional. With cheesy band music and everything. We told them that we expected them to have a pink floyd cover band or something. But it was a good time. We got to see some people Rob used to work with years ago, which was fun. Made me want to get married though!

Saturday we slept in a little since Friday was another late night. (Rob almost fell asleep at the wheel driving home.) But instead of taking it easy and relaxing at home, we decided to spend the day in Philly. Got there a little late, and after a few spurts of road rage, we were ready to walk around South Street. Most of the day was spent in this antique store looking at old photographs. We must have looked at bins for almost two hours. We bought 22 pictures. I'll have to scan a few in, they are great! We had an early dinner and got home in the early evening. I passed out on the sofa, not looking forward to my next day.

Sunday we were booked. Rob's coworker, Chet, who is a super-Christian, invited us to his church. It was bring a friend to church day. Rob and I aren't really church people, but Rob likes this guy a lot, so he agreed. He even said we'd go to bible study an hour before church. Church was....interesting. I won't get into all that on the forum. I believe in God and all, but it was a little, um, cult-like. But everyone we met was soooo nice. Kinda like robots. Christian robots. After church we went to Chet's house where his wife prepared a delicious meal of lasagna and meatballs. Yummy.

After lunch, we went to Camden to see a play at the Walt Whitman Arts Center. It was called Zooman and the Sign and was starring one of Rob's students from last year. Rob was such a proud teacher. This kid came to Rob's school from prison and Rob said he wouldn't talk to anyone. But the school forced every kid to participate in an arts and music program and this kid chose acting. The teacher of the program, Ozzie, saw so much potential in Pennington, that he gave him the lead role in this play. It was moving. The play was about a gang member that accidentally shoots a 12 year old girl. It deals with the family coping with the death and the fact that the neighbors are too afraid to admit they saw anything. Really, really powerful. And Pennington did such a great job! Now he can't wait to do more plays! Yay!

Last night I was pooped, so I didn't do much. I really want to get back into sketching so I tried to draw a bit in bed last night. I didn't get very far. But here's a sneak peak:



It's just a girl from a magazine. I want to see if I can get in on a figure drawing class in the winter. I'll never improve if I don't practice, and I'm so terrible at keeping up with that stuff. I've done a few sketches recently that have made me nearly dry heave they are so bad!! :-p

Anyway, i have tons of work to do, like always, so I'd better get started. Talk to you folks soon!!!! Thanks for reading!!!!

WARNING: Long-ass post below!

Hi folks! Things have been really busy in Mel-world lately. I’m enjoying my time now sitting around and typing a blog entry from bed.

Let me brief you, dear diary style.

Friday

Friday started at 5:15am. Rob and I have been waking up early to avoid traffic. It’s pretty nice, but my commute has been longer due to the fact that we’re carpooling to save gas money. So I have to drop Rob off in Camden and pick him up after work. And since Rob talks more than anyone I know, he usually talks to coworkers for another half an hour, so I’m still getting home at 6:30pm. Anyway.

This Friday was going to be a long one because we were going to the Aqualung concert at the TLA at 9pm. Instead of going home, which would be pointless, we just decided to hang out in the city all night. So from 5-7 we wandered around South Street where I pointed out everything that happened when I was there with Amy and Maria. *tear* I miss them. Then we parked our butts on a bar stool to watch the red sox game from 7-10. We even skipped the opening bands so we could catch the whole game. Then we got to the Aqualung show. EVERYONE GO OUT AND BUY HIS ALBUM! I think I love him. Here’s his picture:



What could be better than a skinny, romantic, British guy with glasses??? Well, he didn’t wear the glasses during the show. If he did, I probably would have rushed the stage. His words melt my heart! So, if you can tell, I thought the show was incredible. Plus he was hilarious, which is always a bonus.

After the show we got some pizza. Rob bought a slice of pizza for a homeless guy and then we felt like crap afterwards as the man thanked us and ran off to enjoy the food. How sad. Then we got home around 1am, had to shower and got to bed at almost 2am. What a long day!

Saturday

Thought I could sleep in but noooooo. Woke up at 7am to go to a diner with Rob and Phuong, Rob’s new coworker that has become his Siamese twin. (In fact, he’s on the phone with her right now.) Basically, she’s new here and he adopted her as his kid sister. So we went to breakfast with her on Saturday and went to the Collingswood book fair. I’m not much of a reader, as ignorant as that makes me sound, so I broke off from the two of them and stopped at some shops and wandered around the farmers market. The weather was ideal. I was comfortable in long sleeves, no jacket, and a scarf. I love that. I got some apple cinnamon pound cake and flowers for my mom. After a few hours at the fair, we went to my parents house. I got to spend some nice quality time with my family. And I was able to get to bed by 10pm, which was great!

Sunday

Got up early to prepare for our trip to the Across the Narrows music festival in Coney Island. Got to Coney Island at around noon and walked around for a little. What a great place for photography! Rob and I need to go back because it was so interesting, but we didn’t have time to explore. So we’ll have to make a trip soon.

The festival was so much fun! It was in a minor league baseball stadium and for the first half, barely anyone was there. We walked around and listened to some music. Whirlwind Heat was first. I had seen them before. They are okay, a little hard for me, and the lead singer is a freak. Then came Gang Gang Dance. I didn’t like them at all. Super weird. Then was Dragonette. Never heard of them but they were really cool. Loved the girl’s voice. If I were in a band, I’d want to be in one like theirs. The band members wore matching white suits with yellow ruffle shirts underneath. ;-) Then came the The Raveonettes. I knew about them and liked their music. I was pleased.

Up next was the The Polyphonic Spree. Rob and I were really looking forward to them. We saw them on tv and they looked like they put on a good show and we were right! They are so positive and happy and listening to them makes me feel joyous or something! Rob and I danced around like children, doing pirouettes and stuff! It was wonderful!

After that was Belle and Sebastian, my favorite band of all time. They were a little discombobulated since they flew from Scotland specifically for the concert, I think. Love their music, that’s all I can say. And after that was Beck! Beck rocked the hizouse! He played some great ones from Guero, a few from Sea Change, and some classics, like “Loser”, “Devil’s Haircut,” and my fav, “Where It’s At.” Great closing to a great festival!

Then we left, drove 45 minutes to my parents house, then an hour and 15 back to my house. We got home around midnight and had to be prepared to wake up the next morning at 5:15am.

Long weekend.

If you’re still reading, congratulations! You win a prize! I think I stopped reading a few paragraphs ago and I’m the one writing it!

Hope you’re enjoying your week. I’m looking forward to my weekend. If I had a normal job, I might have a three day weekend, but there are no such things as holidays in the pharmaceutical world. Thanks for reading!!!

My girls like to party all the time!

Well, my girlies (Amy and Maria) left me yesterday. Boohoo. Back to regular life. This was such a great vacation and I didn’t even really have to go anywhere! I have so much to write about, but not a lot of time, so I figured I’d just post some pictures.

We went out in NYC on Saturday night and it was like getting ready for prom! On Friday, the girls peer pressured me into getting this gorgeous top from Bebe, and well, I had to get some pants too while I was at it. I mean, I didn't have NYC nightlife appropriate clothing! :-) Oh yeah, and I had to go to MAC to get some matching eye makeup too. Anyway, we spent hours primping and even sported the fake eyelashes. I was a little freaked out because of my whole eye-thing, but I conquered my fear to look fabulous! I couldn't see that well all night, but it was worth it! So here are some prom pics of us:



Check out the lushes lashes:


After a brief stint at what turned out to be a gay bar, we found our way to the Aer Lounge. I don't know what new yorkers put in their drinks, but one appletini at the Aer Lounge and we were good for the night! Thank goodness since they were $12 a piece. Here's a pic of us at the club, check out Amy's shirt-dress. I can't even count how many comments she got on her outfit that night! ;-)



I had a little accident that night. While climbing up on something (don't ask), I stepped on a cushion-y bench, that I didn't realize was so soft and I took a little tumble. Silly me. Here's a picture of my knee the next morning:



And here are two more pics from one night when we went out in Philly. We started at Pod, then went to the Continental, and ended up in Mint. I'll tell ya all about it at a later date:






So that's a brief peek at Amy and Maria's East Coast Tour 2005. It didn't end up being a poor girl's tour like we had originally planned, but oh well. Who can afford to be poor on a vacation like this?! I'll be sure to give you all the filthy details later. :-)

7 Things You Don't Know About Me

So, I thought Maria's post on her blog was a really great idea, so I came up with my own "strange" melissa facts. Funny though, mine seem way more embarrassing than hers do. Why am I admitting this stuff????

1. I was a flute section leader in high school marching band. Yeah, geeky. I wanted to be a drum major, but then I wouldn’t get to play, and playing my flute was the only reason I was in band. Well, that and the cool uniform. I actually thought I’d go to Julliard one day! Haha!
2. Along the geeky lines, when I was a high school freshman, I was on my school’s bowling league. I was the worst one on the team so I quit the next year.
3. My middle name is Kim, not Kimberly, just Kim.
4. The only pets I’ve ever had were goldfish. But I had this one, his name was Spot and he lived for over 2 years. I used to put my finger at the top of the water and he’d nibble it. I cried my eyes out when he died.
5. I collected post cards when I was growing up. I think I have over 1200. My grandfather still sends me all the ones he ever gets in the mail. ☺
6. The first time Rob tried to kiss me I told him no. Even though I knew I wanted to be with him, I hadn’t broken up with my current boyfriend yet, and I didn’t want to be a cheater.
7. (This one is super-embarrassing.) Sometimes, when I’m in my car singing, I imagine myself on American Idol. :-p I think about what songs I would pick and everything! That is so bad, but I can’t imagine anything better than being a singer!

Well, that's my list. I hope you all still like me. ☺ You don't have to respect me, I just hope you still like me.

Jeope is so cool!!! So are the other HOWies!

Yeah, he is. He's so cool that I had to title my blog post after him. ;-)

Visit his blog here. He's so talented, it makes me want to puke. And I mean that in a good way!

________

Speaking of cool, I just have to say thank you to my HOWies for making this birthday superb! I got more birthday wishes than I have in the past five years! They make me feel loved. And it's so great to have them as my dear friends. I am blessed. A few special HOWie shout outs. Nobody get angry at me for leaving them out! That means you jeff_bob!!! ;-) Okay fine, shout out to jeff_bob, even though his emails are not as lengthy as they used to be!

Special shout out to Ash, who really got me thinking deeply this past week. She made me realize that i need to look inside myself more often instead of trying to fix my life superficially. She is such an inspiration and I love knowing that she's there to lend her wisdom. Thank you, Ash.

Thank you to Maria and Amy for making the trip across the country! Sheesh, my friends won't even drive 45 minutes to see my house and you girls are coming from Phoenix! You are beautiful ladies and are like sisters to me. We are going to have a blast! Also, thanks to Maria for listening to me complain more than anyone in this world! She is the most understanding person to vent to! :-)

Thanks dev, for joining me in the quest for the rock. I hope it happens to us both at the same time. Who else can I send wedding invitation pics to that'll understand me like you do?? :-) Sometimes I think we're the same person! Except your a little kookier!

Even though he's not technically a HOWie anymore, thanks to Keith for trying his best to keep me sane in this corporate world. And I swear we'll do lunch soon! Sorry I've been so busy lately, but I'm not avoiding you! :-)

And of course there are so many others that make my every days special. Patti, for running this whole HOWieZine project and for calming me down when I was freaking out about my lost package. Even though I had to do extra work, it's all worth it in the end to be a part of something so great! Lisa, for caring about what you do so much, which in turn makes me want to care more about it too. Lew, for finding my secret blog and posting his support! :-) Bob and Rick for being crazy characters that crack me up in an instant! You all get the picture!

Anyway, I feel like I'm giving an acceptance speech or something. I just have lots of love for my HOWies and I want them to know it! **HUGS!!**

Go Sox, uh, I guess!

¡Hola amigos! What is going on? Just thought I'd post a few pics for ya. You know, for the three people that actually look at this blog. But whatever.

First, here are two pics from our trip to Fenway in July. Rob has become increasingly obsessed with baseball. He listens to every Red Sox game on XM radio and will watch it whenever it's on tv. We've gone to about 10 games this summer. It's getting crazy. But I'm trying to be a supportive girlfriend. Notice my lovely Red Sox jersey. Notice the smile on my face as I sit through batting practice.





So things have been a little rocky this month of August. I had one awesome piece of luck. My company was sold, which meant that we got paid out our stock options. Turns out that 30% of my company made over 100K off of this deal. I, however, was not as lucky. But I got a few K, which is a nice little bonus. Unfortunately, all of that is now spent because our heating/cooling unit is now garbage. How much will that cost? Approx $3500. Sucks butt. I was planning on getting myself an iBook and everything! Oh well, I guess that's me being greedy, since I already have a G5 and I just bought a cinema display. I just can't help it. I love electronics. But home improvements are more important. Actually, I don't really have a choice....heat is kinda essential.

Anyway, another piece of good news. I have two quotes in the new issue of HOW (on newstands Aug 30th). Although I was slightly disappointed that they didn't include a pic of all of our HOWieZine pages like I had originally thought they were going to do. I mean, I told my whole family and even strangers ;-) that my work was going to be in HOW. But my name is in there and that kinda rocks! Anyway, my HOWieZine pages for issue #4 went MIA thanks to the good ole USPS. That was really heartbreaking. I spent so much time putting 60 pages together by hand. And this time I didn't just print and cut, I did much more handiwork. But I'm doing them all over again, which totally sucks, but at least I'll still get to participate.

Anyway, there were a few other sucky instances, like some work situations. Minor stuff, but all disappointing. So Rob wanted to cheer me up. He left this little surprise for my when I came home from work one day. Those are the beanies. There's beanie Melissa and beanie Rob. They look like us, sort of. They are kind of like pets because they have particular voices and Rob makes them dance and fight and say obscene things to me. But sometimes they are nice to me. Like here. Apparently I like farts. Rob is weird. But this made me laugh really hard. He challenged me to a game of Chutes and Ladders but I totally kicked his butt. Hahahaha!







Anyway, I'm off to bed for the evening. I get to go get my new drivers license before work and I need to find like 18 forms of ID before I go. Thanks for reading folks!

Um, my name is Melissa. Remember me??

Okay, okay, I’ve been a slacker. I know it. I suck. Feel free to hurl large stones at me. Would you believe me if I promised to be better??? No, okay, whatever. If you’re sooo interested in my life, keep reading because I get the feeling this is going to be a long one.

First of all, update on the card front. No purchases recently. I’m completely okay with that because I haven’t sat down to make cards in quite a while. So my inventory is getting a little on the light side. But once I’m able to build it up a bit, I’ll start marketing myself more frequently. I don’t think I’m ready yet to be an entrepreneur, but I see it in my future! ☺

Okay, now, an update on work. This new building is incredible. Really. And I have all this great privacy! Originally I was supposed to share an office with one of my coworkers, but they realized they had plenty, so this double office is all mine! Brand new Herman Miller furniture! Ergonomic Aeron chair! And I brought in my Bose SoundDock so I can listen to music all day! Here’s a pic of what it looks like:





And a pic of my view:



The view is great. I mean, it’s cool enough to have some natural light in here, but to have a view of Love Park? That’s just insane! This office definitely makes me feel more important. I feel like a pretty successful 24 year old!

The only bad thing about being here was the commute. It was taking me just about an hour and a half each way. But starting last week, I got a parking pass and attempted driving here. So much better! Just under an hour actually, so I’m ecstatic! Sure, that’s still pretty far, but compared to an hour and a half, it’s great. I’m still a little nervous driving in the city, but each day I do it I become more comfortable.

Things have been busy lately. In June I went to the HOW conference in Chicago and had the best time! I got to meet some of the coolest people ever and was able to form strong bonds with wonderful people that I know will be in my life for a long time. It was more valuable than I could have imagined! Here are a few photos from that trip:









The end of June and July were weeks filled with baseball. I think we went to about 4 Phillies games, 1 Orioles game, and 2 Red Sox games. I am baseballed out! Got some of my worst sunburn ever. Rob had better appreciate what a dedicated girlfriend I am! I even bought a Red Sox jersey to show my support!

Our trip to Boston was so much fun! I love that city! When I’m there, I never want to leave! We got to take it easy this time since it was our 5th time there. We didn’t have to rush to see things because we’ve already seen most of it. So we did some shopping, ate some great food, watched baseball, and strolled around the city. It was great to get some quality time together without worrying about chores or work. I got really depressed and cranky when we left, but I’m in a better mood now because Rob and I have vowed to enjoy our free time to the fullest! We’ve become such machines lately, and we need to break our daily habits, always following the same schedule. I think we’ll actually stick to it this time!

The upcoming month or two are going to be pretty busy as well. My parents are moving next month. Thankfully they’ll be about 45 min closer to me. I’m not sure if they want me to visit to help them pack or if they would prefer it if I stayed out of their way until the move is complete. August 13th is Rob’s dad’s wedding. It’ll be a fun little BBQ/picnic in their backyard out in Amish country. I’m sure it’ll be a blast! Then on the 27th is Rob’s brother’s wedding. Not really sure how that one’s going to turn out. Then the 29th is my birthday, yippee! I’d better be getting a Cold Stone ice cream cake from Rob! Then, mid September, my girls Maria and Amy are making their way out from AZ to visit! Woohoo! That is going to be the best time ever! Then I plan on sleeping the entire month of October. ;-) Here's a pic of my girlies:



See, I told you this was going to be long!

One more thing, yesterday I made my first bag ever! Didn’t even bother to use a pattern! I walked into the craft store and spotted the pink embroidered fabric and I just needed to do something with it. So I found a matching corduroy and went to town! I was afraid it was going to loop like a heaping pile of garbage but it actually looks like a bag! And it’s functional! I can’t wait to try it again! I had such a great time!









Okay, I’m finished catching you all up on my life. I’m sure I left some stuff out, but you get the idea. I’ll try to not be such a loser and get my butt writing a little bit more. And maybe I’ll actually say something profound eventually!

To Dream the Slightly Possible Dream

Well, it's been over two months since my last post, so let me bring you up to date. I have decided to follow my dream, however far fetched it might be, and try my hand at the card business! I've been making an inventory recently, though very slowly. It's so tough to get home from work and sit down to do more work. Luckily, making cards doesn't really feel like work. Once I get started, I have a great time. The hardest part is decided to spend my night in front of my sewing machine instead of in front of the tv.

Last week I posted a few cards on craftster.org to get some feedback from other crafty people out there. I got a pretty good response. And I was contacted by two consignment places who wanted to sell my stuff! Woohoo! So this week I have to fill out the contract and send a small batch of my cards to each.

But before I did that, I wanted to finish my site. Not my portfolio site, it'll be years before I ever get around to that! But I wanted to finish my store, so that people could have a place to go if they were interested in any of my products. Well, about 30 minutes ago, I finished. The store is located at:
http://www.melissahead.com/store.html

I am so excited about this venture! Even if I only sell one card, I'd be happy! Doing this whole thing started out as a creative outlet. But the fact that I actually did something with it (whether it's successful or not) is so exhilarating!! And I'm not doing this whole thing to make money, or replace my current job, or become the next Hallmark. I just think it would be so cool to know that someone bought my card and is going to give it to someone.

I think I might spend the rest of my day making a small stack of Father's Day cards to put up on my site. I figure, I have to make one for my dad anyway. Might as well mass produce! :-)

Well, hope all you people in blog-land are having a wonderful holiday weekend (if you're in the US.) I'll try to not let over 2 months pass before my next post! Later gators!

My Creations

Here's what I could get done before my piece of crap Sewing Genie jammed up.
















Let me know what you think!