All ya'll Americans will be landing in England exactly 5 weeks from today - getting excited!? Here's the plan so far - Tuesday we gots Momma & Pops, Brian, Crystal, Dominic, Aunt Anne, Becca, and Molly flying in. Wednesday Chris, Miriam, and Isabella. So, Tuesday we've rented a mini-bus to get everyone at the airport, and we'll probably just spend the day hanging out at our house eating fish and chips, drinking a good pint of British beer. Tuesday, we're thinking we'll send everyone off to Leeds Castle, and either just Paul, or Paul and I will go up and get Chris, Miriam, and Bella. Then we'll meet you at Leeds for the rest of the day - I think we'll get back from the airport at 1-ish, depending on customs. They may not be up for Leeds Castle as soon as they get here, so we may take them to the house, it's really up to them. Anyways, Thursday is Canterbury day - we'll stroll around, have lunch, do the Cathedral or whatever else you want, then in the early eve, the girls and boys will split up for their respective Bachelor/Bachelorette (Stag & Hen night) parties. I don't know what the boys are planning, but for the gals, we'll all go out to dinner, then just go around to pubs or something - nothing too exciting. The old folks (hahaha) can decide if they want to stay out all night with us youngens. Then Friday will be Londontown - weehee. I need to make a plan for that day - let me know what you'd all like to see. We can start the day with a double-decker bus tour or something cheezy like that, so you can get pictures of all the famous stuff. Then we can do the London Eye, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, walk around the meeeellion pound shops in Kensington, er, gimme suggestions! Then Saturday is of course wedding day, Sunday will probably be relax day for a lot of us - or you can just take the bus or train wherever. Monday Becca and the Chris family will be leaving, and I haven't planned much for after that. We'll probably go to Brugges on Tuesday. That's it - so let me know what you think!
Elijah has the most obnoxious schedule at school this week - he's only there from 1-3. So by the time I get back to my house, I have like an hour before I have to head back. I think I'll just have a cuppa at Mark's house, cause he lives right by the school! Elijah is doing well, learning more and more everyday. He'd rather play Transformers than read anyday, so it's hard keeping his attention. James is sleeping over on Friday - they're both just a bit excited about it. I think Mark & Emma are too. Haha.
Business is going well - I've had lots of positive things going on lately, I think in say, 6 months, things will be going REALLY well. It seems as if brides order samples WAYYYY before their wedding, so it takes a while before they actually place an order. Yesterday I got a great email from a girl I sent a sample kit to - she LOVES it and can't wait to order, but she's not getting married for 15 months, so she's gonna wait a bit. I've actually had quite a few emails like that. I've contacted about 100 companies in the past week about creating partnerships (we refer each other, I pay them commission, etc). I've had a decent response, and any referrals will be supah dupah. Anyways, I'm starting to plan my other venture, mwahhahaa - I cannot stop! This one is more business than creative, but it still has to do with graphic design. I'm gonna start a student freelance type of company to get students freelance work before graduating so they have professional level stuff to put in their portfolios. I'll give you more details when I plan more.
The back bathroom is comin' along! Paul plastered most of the wall, so now we just need to finish that plastering, paint the walls, do the flooring, stick in the toilet and sink, and it should be nearly done. Slowly but surely the house will get done!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
ARSE
Yo. How is everyone? Us Mah-ins are doing well. It was COLD this morning. My face was like, frost-bitten by the time we got to Elijah's school. Shoot. I've been looking online for a £200 car, but what am I talking about? We can't afford a £50 car. The wedding is closing in, the mortgage on Paul's other house kicked back in, and, uh, I'm making peanuts at the moment. I sense the orders - they're out there - it's just taking some time. My first order is going to print tomorrow - that's exciting. I think when the brides-to-be send out their invitations with my copyright on the back, business will pick up. I'm going to a meeting for a Kent-based wedding organization tomorrow eve - I think that'll bring good things. I already landed a few freelance jobs from talking to the head of the organization, so it seems like it's gonna be a good thing! I've also been encouraging myself by ordering my competition's samples, and mine are better. I'm serious. Better print jobs, better card stock, better color. I just gotta get the word out - but man, it's so so true it takes money to make money. I gotta save up for some more advertising.
This past weekend was fun. Our little fam went to St. Margaret's beach on Saturday - it's a beautiful rock beach in between 2 looming chalk-white cliffs. I forgot my camera, but here's a couple photos of it -
It was a perfect day too. We just sat on the beach and rummaged through all the cool rocks. Paul wrote "ARSE" on one of the rocks and tried to make me believe it was actually IN the rock. What a geek. Haha. Then I found a little barnacle thingy- and named him Barney the Barnacle and took him home with me. I took a picture of him and posted it. He's great - he's on my mantle now. Anyways, then Saturday night Paul and I went to our friends Mary and Jonathan's house for dinner. That was a lovely time. We have a lot in common (besides the fact that she's American and he's English) - and they're a hoot - we had a good time laughin' a stupid crap n' whateva.
Elijah is doing really well at school. We're about to practice writing his name (he has homework already!), and then we're gonna take a stab at reading practice. He's starting to grasp sounding out letters to make a word - I think he'll be reading before we know it! He's still all about James Bates, we'll be having another play-date at his house tomorrow. We went to Kidz Planet yesterday and they had a good ol' time.
That's it - nothing exciting, just regular life in da UK. Weehoooo.
Oh, here are a few videos of trampoline fun:
This past weekend was fun. Our little fam went to St. Margaret's beach on Saturday - it's a beautiful rock beach in between 2 looming chalk-white cliffs. I forgot my camera, but here's a couple photos of it -
It was a perfect day too. We just sat on the beach and rummaged through all the cool rocks. Paul wrote "ARSE" on one of the rocks and tried to make me believe it was actually IN the rock. What a geek. Haha. Then I found a little barnacle thingy- and named him Barney the Barnacle and took him home with me. I took a picture of him and posted it. He's great - he's on my mantle now. Anyways, then Saturday night Paul and I went to our friends Mary and Jonathan's house for dinner. That was a lovely time. We have a lot in common (besides the fact that she's American and he's English) - and they're a hoot - we had a good time laughin' a stupid crap n' whateva.
Elijah is doing really well at school. We're about to practice writing his name (he has homework already!), and then we're gonna take a stab at reading practice. He's starting to grasp sounding out letters to make a word - I think he'll be reading before we know it! He's still all about James Bates, we'll be having another play-date at his house tomorrow. We went to Kidz Planet yesterday and they had a good ol' time.
That's it - nothing exciting, just regular life in da UK. Weehoooo.
Oh, here are a few videos of trampoline fun:
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Elijah is officially a big boy
Today is Elijah's first day of school! He was soooooo excited. I posted some pics of him in his new uniform 'n stuff. I'm quite happy about the whole thing - I think he would've gone completely mad if he had to stay here with me much longer. He's ready for school and friends and structured playtime. I think it'll do us both a load of good. We met up with James Bates and his parents on the way to school and walked together. Elijah and James are so cute - their conversations are amazing.
"I have a Power Rangers water bottle".
"Well, I bought a Power Rangers shirt for FIIIIIVE pounds!"
"Look at my Go Diego Go backpack!"
"I have a bag too - mine's for schoooool."
"I'm going to big boy school with you!"
They're so cute. I'm glad Elijah has James - it's nice he has a little best friend already. His parents are pretty cool too - Paul and I will have them over for dinner once the back of our house is presentable...hopefully in the next few weeks.
So I had my trade show yesterday. It went very well I think. I honestly couldn't tell ya if I'll get an order from it, but the response was great, especially from other businesses. I'll be having a meeting with a photographer this week about starting a partnership of sorts - they'll plug me, I'll plug them (it will work out perfectly since my invites have photos in them). They're also involving a guy from the Kent Wedding Network cause he's really interested in my stuff. So yay. I'm about to call a lady that seemed really interested in stuff for her wedding, and she's getting married in 5 weeks, so she needs 'em fast. Hopefully she'll actually order! Of course, my wandering mind is already conjuring up another business plan for another venture. We'll see how far I can take it!
Not too much else goin' on. It's kinda chilly today - I think summer is coming to an end, sadly. We were gonna go camping in our back garden this past weekend, but didn't, cause we suck. So this coming weekend we may actually go real camping down in the warren. Weehoo! Then in a few weeks we might go up to Leicester cause I got Paul a go in a Lamborghini for Valentine's Day this year, and we haven't had a chance to get up there yet. There's also a Space Museum in Leicester, so we wanted to make a weekend out of it. We'll see!
That is all. Arrivederci.
"I have a Power Rangers water bottle".
"Well, I bought a Power Rangers shirt for FIIIIIVE pounds!"
"Look at my Go Diego Go backpack!"
"I have a bag too - mine's for schoooool."
"I'm going to big boy school with you!"
They're so cute. I'm glad Elijah has James - it's nice he has a little best friend already. His parents are pretty cool too - Paul and I will have them over for dinner once the back of our house is presentable...hopefully in the next few weeks.
So I had my trade show yesterday. It went very well I think. I honestly couldn't tell ya if I'll get an order from it, but the response was great, especially from other businesses. I'll be having a meeting with a photographer this week about starting a partnership of sorts - they'll plug me, I'll plug them (it will work out perfectly since my invites have photos in them). They're also involving a guy from the Kent Wedding Network cause he's really interested in my stuff. So yay. I'm about to call a lady that seemed really interested in stuff for her wedding, and she's getting married in 5 weeks, so she needs 'em fast. Hopefully she'll actually order! Of course, my wandering mind is already conjuring up another business plan for another venture. We'll see how far I can take it!
Not too much else goin' on. It's kinda chilly today - I think summer is coming to an end, sadly. We were gonna go camping in our back garden this past weekend, but didn't, cause we suck. So this coming weekend we may actually go real camping down in the warren. Weehoo! Then in a few weeks we might go up to Leicester cause I got Paul a go in a Lamborghini for Valentine's Day this year, and we haven't had a chance to get up there yet. There's also a Space Museum in Leicester, so we wanted to make a weekend out of it. We'll see!
That is all. Arrivederci.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
News & Videos
G'marnin' everyone. It has been one tiring weekend. Paul had Friday off, and I feel like we've been running around non-stop since then. We had Elijah's party to plan, and the house needed a total clearing out. Plus I had biznass stuff to do. It's funny how you feel like you have no time, then when you go to write a list of what you did, it doesn't seem like that much.
Elijah's party went really well. We had a bit over 20 people here - lots of food and talking and such. There were 5 kids, and they all had fun jumping on the trampoline and playing together. Elijah's best mate James came over, so that was nice for him. Before the party, Capel had a village-wide garage sale, so TONS of people in the village had garage sales. The village was madness all morning - people everywhere trying to get a deal. I got a guitar for £6 (that will not stay in tune no matter what), we got Elijah a bunch of books, and Paul got a gas trimmer for the garden and a trowel, weeeeeee! I really wanted a bookcase, but didn't find one. Elijah got a ridiculous amount of loot for his birthday - I doubt he'll be playing with his old toys for a while. Yesterday he got a race track, a tether-ball game for outside, a remote control Lightning McQueen, a Shrek punching bag, another Transformer, a Transformer Mr. Potato Head, and loads of candy. Lucky boy!
Paul's doing well - back to work in London today. The hours have been pretty consistent - he's up at 5am, and gets home at 6ish everyday. Some days he gets home earlier, if they feel like slacking a bit. I think he'll feel better about the whole thing when he gets his next paycheck when he sees the lovely London pay.
My work is going well - some good news, some bad. First - the good. I got my first order last week! Weehaw! I've been sending out about 5 samples/sample kits per week, so that's really good too! The bad news - I've been following some posts a girl has been writing on a wedding forum here in the UK. At first, she was sooooo excited about my invitations, she was plugging me like crazy telling everyone how amazing they were. Then I sent her a sample kit, and she wrote and said she was disappointed in them. Yeah, whatever girl, I'll show you disappointed. She said she didn't like the printing. I'm not gonna let it get me down too much, everyone has their own opinions. The thing is - most wedding stationery is mostly white or cream with colored words and designs - my stationery is all-over color, so no matter how you print it, it will not look as perfect as white/cream stationery. From what she said, I think she was expecting perfection. I'm still trying to make the sale with her - I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'll let you know and celebrate if she ends up ordering with me! But overall, I've had a really positive response and things are going well. My tradeshow is next Sunday, hopefully I'll get some business from that.
Elijah starts school a week from today! He's pretty much ready to go. He has his uniforms and his school bag - all he needs is a lunch box! He starts 8:45-noon for 2 weeks, then it's 1-3pm for a week, then 11am-3pm for a week, then full time from 8:45am-3pm. I'm ready for him to go to school, not in an evil way, but I think he's ready for it. It'll be so nice for him to be around other kids again.
Ok, enough jibber jabber - here's some videos of Elijah! I also posted some new pics on the website.
Elijah's party went really well. We had a bit over 20 people here - lots of food and talking and such. There were 5 kids, and they all had fun jumping on the trampoline and playing together. Elijah's best mate James came over, so that was nice for him. Before the party, Capel had a village-wide garage sale, so TONS of people in the village had garage sales. The village was madness all morning - people everywhere trying to get a deal. I got a guitar for £6 (that will not stay in tune no matter what), we got Elijah a bunch of books, and Paul got a gas trimmer for the garden and a trowel, weeeeeee! I really wanted a bookcase, but didn't find one. Elijah got a ridiculous amount of loot for his birthday - I doubt he'll be playing with his old toys for a while. Yesterday he got a race track, a tether-ball game for outside, a remote control Lightning McQueen, a Shrek punching bag, another Transformer, a Transformer Mr. Potato Head, and loads of candy. Lucky boy!
Paul's doing well - back to work in London today. The hours have been pretty consistent - he's up at 5am, and gets home at 6ish everyday. Some days he gets home earlier, if they feel like slacking a bit. I think he'll feel better about the whole thing when he gets his next paycheck when he sees the lovely London pay.
My work is going well - some good news, some bad. First - the good. I got my first order last week! Weehaw! I've been sending out about 5 samples/sample kits per week, so that's really good too! The bad news - I've been following some posts a girl has been writing on a wedding forum here in the UK. At first, she was sooooo excited about my invitations, she was plugging me like crazy telling everyone how amazing they were. Then I sent her a sample kit, and she wrote and said she was disappointed in them. Yeah, whatever girl, I'll show you disappointed. She said she didn't like the printing. I'm not gonna let it get me down too much, everyone has their own opinions. The thing is - most wedding stationery is mostly white or cream with colored words and designs - my stationery is all-over color, so no matter how you print it, it will not look as perfect as white/cream stationery. From what she said, I think she was expecting perfection. I'm still trying to make the sale with her - I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'll let you know and celebrate if she ends up ordering with me! But overall, I've had a really positive response and things are going well. My tradeshow is next Sunday, hopefully I'll get some business from that.
Elijah starts school a week from today! He's pretty much ready to go. He has his uniforms and his school bag - all he needs is a lunch box! He starts 8:45-noon for 2 weeks, then it's 1-3pm for a week, then 11am-3pm for a week, then full time from 8:45am-3pm. I'm ready for him to go to school, not in an evil way, but I think he's ready for it. It'll be so nice for him to be around other kids again.
Ok, enough jibber jabber - here's some videos of Elijah! I also posted some new pics on the website.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Diaper goo fluff
So this morning has made me think today is gonna be another one of those days, but I shall try my hardest to fight it off. Elijah woke me up saying "I'm all wet" - grrrrrreat. We started wearing just big-boy pants to bed about 4 days ago, cause it'd been months since he went wee-wee in his Pull-Up. Of course, now that he's not wearing a Pull-Up, he pees his bed. Awesome. Then I went to get a load of laundry out of the washer, and there was this weird goo fluff stuff allllllllll up ova my clean laundry. I emptied it into the laundry basket, and out plopped a wet, soggy, gross goo and fluff covered Pull-Up diaper. For all ya'll parents out there - make sure you never put a diaper through the wash. Elijah has been a "big boy" for a while now, and puts his own dirty laundry in the hamper. I guess one morning he forgot to take his pull-up out of his jammies, and I didn't catch it as I stuffed the dirty laundry into the washer. So it took me like 8 times as long to hang the laundry this morning cause I had to shake and pick off all the goo fluff. Ha.
I won't waste any more time with crap - I shall talk about good things! Friday night Paul and I went to dinner with a couple we met at church - Mary and Jonathan. We went for a curry, England's #1 cuisine. We had a lovely time, Mary is cool as hell, and Paul and Jonathan got along really well. Mary & Jonathan were supposed to relieve their babysitter at 10:30, but we were having such a knee-slappin' good time, we looked at our watches at it was 11:20! Ooops. Their babysitter is Jonathan's Mum - hopefully they didn't get a whoopin'. Paul's parents were nice enough to keep Elijah for the night. We got to sleep in. HAAAA - that's a joke. The cat (who I'm now calling CousCous) woke us up at about 4:30. I locked her out, but she screamed and yelled and threw a kitty tantrum until about 5:30. Then I finally fell back asleep, and there was a loud knock at the front door at 7:30 - the POSTMAN!! What postman comes at 7:30am on a Saturday morning. I let him know that it was the 1 day I didn't have my 3 year old at home. Hahaha.
We also took Elijah to see Transformers this weekend. He was SO excited. We didn't tell him what movie we were seeing, we wanted him to guess. So after the first scene, he looked at me with his mouth WIDE open and said, "Is this Transformers Cybertron!?!?!?" He loved it - he was really good, got a little fidgety at the end, but he had a good time. He keeps asking me when we can buy the DVD.
I got a wireless doorbell from eBay for like £3, it's awesome. It's so loud we're all gonna go deaf if someone comes to our door. Heck yeah for eBay!
I've decided to brush up on my geography skillzzz. I realized I almost totally forget where things are on this side of the world. I bet if you go to this site and try to locate all the countries, you won't do as well as you think you will.
Seriously, try it - no cheating! And think, that link is for the "easy" test.
Here's a new funny video of Elijah. He was playing with the cat and she poked him in the eye. Ha!! Anyways, that's all for now. I'll post an update if I get the order!
I won't waste any more time with crap - I shall talk about good things! Friday night Paul and I went to dinner with a couple we met at church - Mary and Jonathan. We went for a curry, England's #1 cuisine. We had a lovely time, Mary is cool as hell, and Paul and Jonathan got along really well. Mary & Jonathan were supposed to relieve their babysitter at 10:30, but we were having such a knee-slappin' good time, we looked at our watches at it was 11:20! Ooops. Their babysitter is Jonathan's Mum - hopefully they didn't get a whoopin'. Paul's parents were nice enough to keep Elijah for the night. We got to sleep in. HAAAA - that's a joke. The cat (who I'm now calling CousCous) woke us up at about 4:30. I locked her out, but she screamed and yelled and threw a kitty tantrum until about 5:30. Then I finally fell back asleep, and there was a loud knock at the front door at 7:30 - the POSTMAN!! What postman comes at 7:30am on a Saturday morning. I let him know that it was the 1 day I didn't have my 3 year old at home. Hahaha.
We also took Elijah to see Transformers this weekend. He was SO excited. We didn't tell him what movie we were seeing, we wanted him to guess. So after the first scene, he looked at me with his mouth WIDE open and said, "Is this Transformers Cybertron!?!?!?" He loved it - he was really good, got a little fidgety at the end, but he had a good time. He keeps asking me when we can buy the DVD.
I got a wireless doorbell from eBay for like £3, it's awesome. It's so loud we're all gonna go deaf if someone comes to our door. Heck yeah for eBay!
I've decided to brush up on my geography skillzzz. I realized I almost totally forget where things are on this side of the world. I bet if you go to this site and try to locate all the countries, you won't do as well as you think you will.
Seriously, try it - no cheating! And think, that link is for the "easy" test.
Here's a new funny video of Elijah. He was playing with the cat and she poked him in the eye. Ha!! Anyways, that's all for now. I'll post an update if I get the order!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
One of those days
I feel like complaining, so watch out, this blog is nothing but Donna complaining. I warned you.
I just received my mail, and in it was my invoice for the first month of advertising in Wedding Ideas Magazine, as well as a copy of the publication. I was all excited, and started flipping through it to spot my features. As part of the advertising package, you get a regular ad in their directory in the back of the magazine, as well as features throughout the magazine. Anyways, I flipped, and flipped, and flipped...and I wasn't featured! I wrote to my rep and asked why, and she said I was too late for this issue, but I'll be featured in the next 3. Pooooo. So that was a bit disappointing. My ad is still there in the directory for the upcoming issue, but I won't be featured until October. Dammitall.
So yeah, then I was balancing my checkbooks, and this stupid company I host my website with charged the wrong account! I want all business stuff to come out of my business account, makes sense, eh? I told them to charge my business account last month, but I guess they didn't make a record of it, cause it still came out of my personal US account. Thank goodness I had the money in there - I usually don't have much money in there anymore since I have British accounts now. Heavens to Betsy!
I also got invoices from my printer for my last 2 orders (mostly samples) and the prices they came up with were more than double what I figured! Jeeeeeeez. So I wrote to my rep, and it's somewhat cleared up, but I found out I overpaid my last invoice too - so my account is all screwed up. Hopefully that'll be taken care of soon. C'mon people!
THEN (seriously, stop reading if you don't want to hear me gripe) - for my sample kits I need to put the invitation samples in between cardboard or something of the like, so they don't bend in the mail. I found a company that does these cheap cool transparent envelope stiffeners, so I ordered 100 of 'em. They were advertised at a size of 219x108, which is EXACTLY the size I need for my stuff. I got them, and they're all more like 208x100! Too small for my stuff. Sooo, I called them, complained, and they told me they'd send me a new shipment of the next bigger size if I sent the ones I had back. So today, I just received the new "bigger" ones, and they're still too small!! They say the size is 229x162, when they actually measure 215x153!! I'm just gonna keep them anyways, I can't be bothered sending them back again. I'll just make sure to order the NEXT bigger size next time. Holy crap.
AND, I have like, NO money. Man, pray hard I get an order soon. I have a potential big order, so keep your fingers crossed. I need it! The trade show is coming up, and I'm trying to make a fancy shmancy display with household products. Starting a business, even a little business where you don't really need inventory or anything, is SO expensive. I'm scared to look at my books already - I don't really want to know how much in the hole I am. But, I must not get discouraged - the money will magically appear, it always does. Next year this time I'll be wondering why I worried, as the orders will be flowing like beer at an English pub. Yes, please.
I left the laundry out on the clothes hanger thingy yesterday and it downpoured so they're sopping wet now. Awesome.
Ok, I assume you're sick of reading this, it's ok, don't feel bad. I'd be sick of reading it too, so I shall go and leave you feeling pissed off and discouraged at the lack of goodness in my blog. Perhaps I will have good things to write about after the weekend. It's already noon here - I must go make Elijah some lunch. Byeeeeeeeeee.
I just received my mail, and in it was my invoice for the first month of advertising in Wedding Ideas Magazine, as well as a copy of the publication. I was all excited, and started flipping through it to spot my features. As part of the advertising package, you get a regular ad in their directory in the back of the magazine, as well as features throughout the magazine. Anyways, I flipped, and flipped, and flipped...and I wasn't featured! I wrote to my rep and asked why, and she said I was too late for this issue, but I'll be featured in the next 3. Pooooo. So that was a bit disappointing. My ad is still there in the directory for the upcoming issue, but I won't be featured until October. Dammitall.
So yeah, then I was balancing my checkbooks, and this stupid company I host my website with charged the wrong account! I want all business stuff to come out of my business account, makes sense, eh? I told them to charge my business account last month, but I guess they didn't make a record of it, cause it still came out of my personal US account. Thank goodness I had the money in there - I usually don't have much money in there anymore since I have British accounts now. Heavens to Betsy!
I also got invoices from my printer for my last 2 orders (mostly samples) and the prices they came up with were more than double what I figured! Jeeeeeeez. So I wrote to my rep, and it's somewhat cleared up, but I found out I overpaid my last invoice too - so my account is all screwed up. Hopefully that'll be taken care of soon. C'mon people!
THEN (seriously, stop reading if you don't want to hear me gripe) - for my sample kits I need to put the invitation samples in between cardboard or something of the like, so they don't bend in the mail. I found a company that does these cheap cool transparent envelope stiffeners, so I ordered 100 of 'em. They were advertised at a size of 219x108, which is EXACTLY the size I need for my stuff. I got them, and they're all more like 208x100! Too small for my stuff. Sooo, I called them, complained, and they told me they'd send me a new shipment of the next bigger size if I sent the ones I had back. So today, I just received the new "bigger" ones, and they're still too small!! They say the size is 229x162, when they actually measure 215x153!! I'm just gonna keep them anyways, I can't be bothered sending them back again. I'll just make sure to order the NEXT bigger size next time. Holy crap.
AND, I have like, NO money. Man, pray hard I get an order soon. I have a potential big order, so keep your fingers crossed. I need it! The trade show is coming up, and I'm trying to make a fancy shmancy display with household products. Starting a business, even a little business where you don't really need inventory or anything, is SO expensive. I'm scared to look at my books already - I don't really want to know how much in the hole I am. But, I must not get discouraged - the money will magically appear, it always does. Next year this time I'll be wondering why I worried, as the orders will be flowing like beer at an English pub. Yes, please.
I left the laundry out on the clothes hanger thingy yesterday and it downpoured so they're sopping wet now. Awesome.
Ok, I assume you're sick of reading this, it's ok, don't feel bad. I'd be sick of reading it too, so I shall go and leave you feeling pissed off and discouraged at the lack of goodness in my blog. Perhaps I will have good things to write about after the weekend. It's already noon here - I must go make Elijah some lunch. Byeeeeeeeeee.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Crazy kitty & stuff
I'm a big girl this week! I get the car! Woohoo! Paul is getting a ride to London with a co-worker, so yeah, I can actually leave Capel - aw yeah. Yesterday Elijah and I went to the Pirate Ship Park down in Folkestone, and I took him to "Old McDonald's" for lunch. It was a nice time. Today we'll probably go to Kids Planet - a big indoor playground thing. It's only £3, and he LOVES it, plus I can have some time to read a book.
Elijah's birthday is coming up in 2 weeks. He is so very spoiled. He's getting trampoline and some other little things from Mama & Dad, then he has like 6 presents sitting on the fridge from folks in America, the Martins are getting him a bike I think. What a lucky boy! I'm still not sure what we're doing for his birthday yet - I think we'll just have a few close friends over, and maybe James Bates cause he loves him.
Let's see, what's new...our kitty is CRAZY - she's a foot attacker. Every time you walk by she's at your feet. She's also a pant-leg-climber - Paul and I have cuts all up our legs and on our feet from her. Stupid kitty. I love her though - she's super cute. We took her to the vet last week and she got some shots, and the vet said she'd be sleepy for a day or so. YEAH - so as soon as she got home from the vet she was sprinting from one side of the house to the other (we now call the back of our house "The West Wing" - haha). She's nuts.
Elijah is doing well - he starts school in about a month - I think 4 weeks from yesterday. I need to go buy his uniforms! The uniforms aren't bad, he just has to wear grey pants, a white polo shirt, and a green Capel Primary School sweatshirt. I need to find him a cool lunchbox - maybe Transformers or something. I still can't believe he's starting school! Eeeeek.
The business is slowly going - I sent out one Sample Kit to someone in London last week - and last night got another lead from my contact form - this girl from Florida actually. I'm figuring business will really pick up the 2nd week in September - that's the week after I do the trade show, and also the week my ad and features come out in the wedding magazine here in the UK. Oh - I'm on Google and Yahoo and MSN! You have to type in either "modern photo invitations" or "modern photo stationery" - but if you type in either of those, I'm on first or second page. Weehee! Right now I'm trying to make a cool display for my trade show for like, um, £15 or something. I'm rigging everything with random household products - I made table number stands from copper wire torn out of electrical cable, and it's all stuck in a chunk of styrofoam insulation. I got a basket for 6 pounds that I'll put that in, with perhaps a sheet tucked on top so you can't see the styrofoam. Ha. I think it'll look nice - I'll take some pictures.
Paul's doing well in London - he's been up at 5am, leaving at about 5:30, and getting home around 5:30. Sometimes he's home earlier, sometimes later - but it's not too bad. He's pretty tired, and I'm sure by the time this job is over (around Christmas) he'll be COMPLETELY worn out.
Oh - some exciting news from England - Neil and Astra got engaged! Yay!
Well, I'm off to get ready to go to Kids Planet. Au revoir!
Elijah's birthday is coming up in 2 weeks. He is so very spoiled. He's getting trampoline and some other little things from Mama & Dad, then he has like 6 presents sitting on the fridge from folks in America, the Martins are getting him a bike I think. What a lucky boy! I'm still not sure what we're doing for his birthday yet - I think we'll just have a few close friends over, and maybe James Bates cause he loves him.
Let's see, what's new...our kitty is CRAZY - she's a foot attacker. Every time you walk by she's at your feet. She's also a pant-leg-climber - Paul and I have cuts all up our legs and on our feet from her. Stupid kitty. I love her though - she's super cute. We took her to the vet last week and she got some shots, and the vet said she'd be sleepy for a day or so. YEAH - so as soon as she got home from the vet she was sprinting from one side of the house to the other (we now call the back of our house "The West Wing" - haha). She's nuts.
Elijah is doing well - he starts school in about a month - I think 4 weeks from yesterday. I need to go buy his uniforms! The uniforms aren't bad, he just has to wear grey pants, a white polo shirt, and a green Capel Primary School sweatshirt. I need to find him a cool lunchbox - maybe Transformers or something. I still can't believe he's starting school! Eeeeek.
The business is slowly going - I sent out one Sample Kit to someone in London last week - and last night got another lead from my contact form - this girl from Florida actually. I'm figuring business will really pick up the 2nd week in September - that's the week after I do the trade show, and also the week my ad and features come out in the wedding magazine here in the UK. Oh - I'm on Google and Yahoo and MSN! You have to type in either "modern photo invitations" or "modern photo stationery" - but if you type in either of those, I'm on first or second page. Weehee! Right now I'm trying to make a cool display for my trade show for like, um, £15 or something. I'm rigging everything with random household products - I made table number stands from copper wire torn out of electrical cable, and it's all stuck in a chunk of styrofoam insulation. I got a basket for 6 pounds that I'll put that in, with perhaps a sheet tucked on top so you can't see the styrofoam. Ha. I think it'll look nice - I'll take some pictures.
Paul's doing well in London - he's been up at 5am, leaving at about 5:30, and getting home around 5:30. Sometimes he's home earlier, sometimes later - but it's not too bad. He's pretty tired, and I'm sure by the time this job is over (around Christmas) he'll be COMPLETELY worn out.
Oh - some exciting news from England - Neil and Astra got engaged! Yay!
Well, I'm off to get ready to go to Kids Planet. Au revoir!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Elijah's Prayer
This is what Elijah prayed at the dinner table last night:
"Dear Jesus, help for our food and our bodies, that it will make me be a grownup and I can call Mom & Dad "tiny" because I'll be so much bigger than them. Amen."
I just about passed out trying to suppress my laughter. He's awesome. He's always coming out with ridiculous amazing things to say.
This morning is a cold gloomy day in England. Sometimes I can't believe it's almost August. It's colder here today than the coldest winter days in Florida. I'm not really complaining, cause honestly I don't mind. Usually the mornings are gloomy and a bit chilly, and by the afternoon the sky is blue and it's warm and lovely out. We got a clothes line thingy the other day, and I experienced hang-drying clothes outside for the very first time. It was great fun, I find hanging clothes with clothespins very relaxing and therapeutic. It was yet another piece of evidence confirming my former lazy/wasteful attitude in America. Don't get me wrong, I'm a proud American, but being in a place where I HAVE TO conserve energy, water, etc, I realize how much I didn't notice I was wasting in America. Anyways, I hung another load out this morning in my slippers and bathrobe and fell in love with where I live again. Though it was chilly and overcast, I had a glorious view of the English countryside, total privacy as my neighbors can't even really see in our back yard, the seagulls were making their seagullish noises, the hydrangeas are all in bloom, and I was breathing the freshest air in the world. It was nice.
When I got back inside, Paul called me from work saying he's been summoned to London again, starting Monday, and the job will last 'til Christmas (don't worry, he'll get the time off around the wedding). He's been refusing London jobs for the past couple months, but I guess this one was just too good to not take.
The business is doing, um, ya know, I just started, so I've had a lot of hits to the site, but no inquiries yet. They'll come, I'm determined, so yeah. I put my ad on Google AdWords, so that should help. I think I'll start getting some business around September, after the ad in the bridal mag and the tradeshow I'm doing. I'll keep you updated.
Elijah is doing great - he had 24-hour-bug yesterday, but he's fine now. Big-boy school is getting closer and closer, and it's almost his birthday! 4 years old - wow. I think Paul and I are gonna get him a trampoline. We were thinking of a swingset, but we think he'll get bored with that in a day. We'll be getting him one with the full surround thing, so he won't fall off. Of course my vote was for a trampoline cause I want to use it too. Haha.
We found a church!! Well, I think we did. It's called Life Church, about a 2 minute drive from us in Folkestone. There are tons of Americans there! People were really nice, Elijah loved it, and even Paul really liked it. The children's ministry is excellent - and that's one of the main things I was looking at. The Pastor is Dutch, and his wife is American - random they ended up in Folkestone, eh? Anyways, we're very happy about finding a church finally.
That's about it from here. Cheerio!
"Dear Jesus, help for our food and our bodies, that it will make me be a grownup and I can call Mom & Dad "tiny" because I'll be so much bigger than them. Amen."
I just about passed out trying to suppress my laughter. He's awesome. He's always coming out with ridiculous amazing things to say.
This morning is a cold gloomy day in England. Sometimes I can't believe it's almost August. It's colder here today than the coldest winter days in Florida. I'm not really complaining, cause honestly I don't mind. Usually the mornings are gloomy and a bit chilly, and by the afternoon the sky is blue and it's warm and lovely out. We got a clothes line thingy the other day, and I experienced hang-drying clothes outside for the very first time. It was great fun, I find hanging clothes with clothespins very relaxing and therapeutic. It was yet another piece of evidence confirming my former lazy/wasteful attitude in America. Don't get me wrong, I'm a proud American, but being in a place where I HAVE TO conserve energy, water, etc, I realize how much I didn't notice I was wasting in America. Anyways, I hung another load out this morning in my slippers and bathrobe and fell in love with where I live again. Though it was chilly and overcast, I had a glorious view of the English countryside, total privacy as my neighbors can't even really see in our back yard, the seagulls were making their seagullish noises, the hydrangeas are all in bloom, and I was breathing the freshest air in the world. It was nice.
When I got back inside, Paul called me from work saying he's been summoned to London again, starting Monday, and the job will last 'til Christmas (don't worry, he'll get the time off around the wedding). He's been refusing London jobs for the past couple months, but I guess this one was just too good to not take.
The business is doing, um, ya know, I just started, so I've had a lot of hits to the site, but no inquiries yet. They'll come, I'm determined, so yeah. I put my ad on Google AdWords, so that should help. I think I'll start getting some business around September, after the ad in the bridal mag and the tradeshow I'm doing. I'll keep you updated.
Elijah is doing great - he had 24-hour-bug yesterday, but he's fine now. Big-boy school is getting closer and closer, and it's almost his birthday! 4 years old - wow. I think Paul and I are gonna get him a trampoline. We were thinking of a swingset, but we think he'll get bored with that in a day. We'll be getting him one with the full surround thing, so he won't fall off. Of course my vote was for a trampoline cause I want to use it too. Haha.
We found a church!! Well, I think we did. It's called Life Church, about a 2 minute drive from us in Folkestone. There are tons of Americans there! People were really nice, Elijah loved it, and even Paul really liked it. The children's ministry is excellent - and that's one of the main things I was looking at. The Pastor is Dutch, and his wife is American - random they ended up in Folkestone, eh? Anyways, we're very happy about finding a church finally.
That's about it from here. Cheerio!
Monday, July 23, 2007
No time!
Hello all!
It's been a LONG time since I updated this thing - and I'm afraid you're about to be disappointed as I'm not going to write anything exciting. I have no time lately - I'm trying so hard to finish my business stuff, I'm spending every moment I have doing it. I started doing some light advertising, and I'm getting more hits to my website every day - which is great, but not so great cause it's not even totally done yet!! So I'm trying to finish as quickly as I can. I'll write more soon - I should be done with the biz stuff by the end of the week - yeah! For now, you can check out the Pictures and House Progress section of the site for new photos!
It's been a LONG time since I updated this thing - and I'm afraid you're about to be disappointed as I'm not going to write anything exciting. I have no time lately - I'm trying so hard to finish my business stuff, I'm spending every moment I have doing it. I started doing some light advertising, and I'm getting more hits to my website every day - which is great, but not so great cause it's not even totally done yet!! So I'm trying to finish as quickly as I can. I'll write more soon - I should be done with the biz stuff by the end of the week - yeah! For now, you can check out the Pictures and House Progress section of the site for new photos!
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