My weekend!!

Today was the first day of my weekend. My metaphorical "Saturday". I had last night off and took to accomplishing several important things. I bought a dental plan, and then made a dentist appointment for x-rays and possibly to have a root canal. (that's next Wednesday, we'll see how it goes). I also bought some things off of my March wish list (wish list = a list of desired items written down ahead of time, that I know I want -this saves me from wreckless thoughtless spending). I got myself business cards, and some beauty products off of ebay that are no longer sold in stores (but what would I do without it!??!) I am very happy with these purchases and while I know they are extravagant, everyone deserves to have some fun. This month I made more money than any other month in my entire life. It still wasn't that much, but I am working my way up slowly, and progressively.

Today Eric and I both had off so we slept in, and woke up in a luxurious fashion to eat food work on our resumes. Today our goals was to apply for jobs. We set off with a list of places to go and the best Norwegian luck from Eric's grandma. The first place we stopped was for Eric. I stayed in the car sending vibes of how awesome Eric is and how much they wanted to hire him into the place. I did this for about 20 minutes on and off until I got bored. By this time I assumed he had gotten past filling out the application and was talking to someone. With his own ability to astound people I knew he would be fine. I stayed in the car sitting in the sun and reading Wilderness Way magazines I found in the back of the car for over an hour. I began to wonder if they had kidnapped him and made some tasty Eric soup or if things were really just going that well. Turns out they were going that well! We rejoiced and decided to head over to a place I'm considering applying at and scope it out. We entered for coffee and desert around 4:30. The place was empty (but it is a breakfas place really) It was incredibly cute and I loved the menu.

Tomorrow Eric has another interview and I think I'll be applying to the place we scoped (hopefully with more luck from Eric's grandma). We came home and went for a long walk in the beautiful sunshine, and then cooked up a bunch of delicious food!!

Here's the menu:

Curried carrot Soup

Potato salad- we used sweet potatos instead of regulars ones and added celery.

Broccoli Salad- I substituted sunflower seeds and raisins for the cheddar cheese

Wu Yi Tea

Plum Wine

Art'd it

So this is a picture I made with oil pastels on a really roughly textured piece of paper. I am not sure this picture does it justice, but I call it "The Lily Pond" It was my first experience with oil pastels. I liked them well enough, but I think I need different paper for a better effect. (11"x14")

This is one of my first magazine collage pieces. Attached with double sided sticky tape. (8.5"x22")

This is the top of a wooden box I added some hinges and magazine clippings to. Its kind of cute. no?

This is my second piece done in this style. Its made of tiny magazine scraps, and attached to the paper with puzzle glue. (5"x7")

This is another magazine scrap collage piece. Smoother edges here. (5"x7")

This is the first thing I've done with colored pencil in a while. I had this scene stuck in my head for days. I just kept itching to put it down and get it out of my head. I think it turned out well, but its still not what I was seeing, leading me to want to recreate it in different mediums. I think that could be a fun series. (11"x14")

xoxo Claire

Life

Its hard to know what to do with one's life. I normally swing between different lifestyles, and I guess I'm just exploring to see what I like, or what works for me. But I have a hard time deciding what I think is fun. What is fun anyway? Its always been one of my big questions. I know what I enjoy, and that must be it, right? I also know what I don't enjoy. That can't possibly be fun can it?I could list all the things that fit into these categories, but that couldn't possibly be fun could it?

I've been doing alot of contemplating and cooking lately. And where cooking normally makes me feel great, I seem to be finding disappointment. I'm never impressed with what turns out. Perhaps this is my fault and I've lost my pinash? Is that a word? I don't know.

Sometimes I miss places that I loved being. There are times for no reason what-so-ever that I am reminded of somewhere I've been and it always brings back the memory of what I liked about it. Its nice to be reminded so often of things I thought were good, but it also creates a strong nostalgia, of which I am always suspicious. I think I'm starting to buzz again with that lofty traveler's ambition to leave, to explore.

xoxo

Claire

Also, here's a listening to list:

Bill Wither's Ain't no Sunshine

Jonathan Edwards' Sunshine Go Away

Bruno Mars' Lazy Day

These strangly describe the exact opposite of how I feel, but are such good songs! Enjoy?

Goes on

Hi, I have two jobs now.

Its great! (do you believe me?) Its actually not as bad as it might sound (and I'm starting to break even with all my extra expenses up here). I only end up working about 35 hours a week. (which is almost normal for a person my age I hear) It would be nice if it were all at once (8 hours a day...), but its in 3-5 hour streaks which makes my days awkward and full of points where I have to time my activities so I can get back to work on time. I've started highlighting in my day book and on our shared work schedule calendar all my shifts in colors depicting the different working establishments I'm at. One of them is right next to my gym so that is good! and encouraging too. I've been doing extreme yoga with the P90X program and jumping on the trampoline Eric and I got.

I've pretty much given up drinking and TV shows. It feels so good. It always made me sad the way those two things effected my mental ability and life in general for the negative. I've been writing, drawing and creating in general a lot more and the experience of that is so fulfilling. My art show will now be able to include drawings and not just collages. (Dory I still have that collage I was making you when I moved up here). I am very happy with these things.

Eric has been doing a lot of research into the stock market and he's found several good companies he wants to invest in, and a discount trading site he likes. He's off to the bank tomorrow to get that ball rolling and we're both really excited about it.