goodbye irene

Many of my favorite beach towns were hit this weekend by Hurricane Irene (we also got hit where I live, but not very badly). Thankfully, the damage wasn't nearly as bad as expected in the coastal areas in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

We got ready for Irene by cleaning out our basement, which normally floods with the slightest drizzle, and waited out the storm with beer, food, and Wii. This morning, our basement is completely dry. I credit this to the fact that we cleaned it out. Had we not bothered with that, we'd have gotten a foot of water. Murphy's Law and all that. 

I hope everyone in the path of the storm stayed/stays safe and dry.


Yes, that is pumpkin ale you see. I was probably a little more excited than I should have been to see that at the beer distributor yesterday.

what i did on my summer vacation

I go back to work tomorrow, 12 weeks after getting laid off. I haven't had this much time off from work since I was 14 or 15 years old. And while I did stay busy with my grad school class and a few other projects, I still managed to squeeze in some nostalgic summer fun. If it weren't for that little thing called income (or the lack of it while unemployed), I could have easily imagined I was 14 again (save for the fact that those Saved by the Bell reruns were not nearly as entertaining as I remembered them).

So here are a few things I did on my summer "vacation":

Played with nail polish:




Bought Revlon Moondrops Lipstick in 24K Orange, purely because it was one of the first lipsticks I ever bought as a teenager:




Caught up on some mindless but entertaining reading:




Ate way too many Freezee Pops:




Made some friendship bracelets (similar pieces will show up in my jewelry shop soon, after I finish refining them):
taken with my iphone



Visited my favorite city:




And spent a lot of time with these adorable faces:
taken with my iphone


Just because I managed to have some fun on my unplanned summer vacation doesn't mean I wasn't productive. In addition to my fun, I also:
1. Updated the design of this blog and posted regularly.
2. (Soft) launched my business and marketing website.
3. Launched Sun Sugar Studio, my new jewelry line.
4. Created my 35 Before 35 list.
5. Painted our living room, dining room, stairway, and upstairs hallway (walls, ceiling, and trim).
6. Updated my resume and got a new job.

Overall, it gave me a lot of time to recharge from some pretty awful experiences, start some long overdue projects, and get ready to start a brand new chapter of my life (and close those old ones that aren't even worth re-reading).

I have a few posts pre-scheduled for this week because I don't know how much time I'm going to have between the new job and working on my final project for class over the next two weeks. Then, I leave for a long weekend, come back for two days, and then head back to the beach for short week/extra long weekend trip, so posting could be light for the next month or so until I get back into the swing of things.

Happy Sunday and happy summer!

All photos by me.

new job, new hair

The shopping ban is over, you guys. I found out over the weekend that I got a new job, and while don't like to post too much about work details here on my blog, let's just say at this moment and at this point in my career, this is a really good job.

In honor of my new gig, I thought I should get some new hair. So I went blonder. But don't expect it to be straight like it is in the photo all that often. My stylist works her magic to straighten my unruly waves, but I don't have the patience for that on daily basis.



And- AND!- not only did I get offered a full-time gig, I also was contacted to help out with volunteer work for a local animal rescue organization. If all goes as planned, I'll be taking pictures of pooches, kitties, and other critters, as well as writing copy about the animals for the organization's website. I'm super exited about this and it kind-of-sort-of can count for number 7 and number 18 on my 35 before 35 list (okay 18 is definitely a maybe, since technically, it's not a fundraiser, but it's still good work that will help a good cause).

I'm feeling super lucky at the moment. I think I should go buy some PowerBall tickets and enter every contest available right now while the karma gods are still shining down upon me. I also think I need to buy this dress and these shoes as a celebration of my new gigs.