A quiet week, events, and looking forward

Hi guys!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me. Last week Dawn was on vacation with her family, my homestay parents were gone for vacation, and Ryan was out of the office for tour rehearsal, so I spent most of my week alone!

I got two graphic design projects started as well as various ad selling/building and research for some things. Mostly, though, I worked on the website because I hit a point where I needed direction! It was a good week, though.

Thursday night I went out to dinner with Ryan, Max, and Eric at Margaritas. It was nice to have some time with people my own age.

Dawn got back Friday, and I went in Saturday around 2 to finish preparing for our Shakespeare's 450th Birthday Bash event. Basically that involved nothing but free food and watching people recite Shakespeare or sing Shakespeare inspired songs. It was fun, but my introvert side was kind of over it after a while. Afterwards I went to the Knights with Ryan, Max, and Eric and played Hearts until way too late.

Sunday I slept WAY longer than I planned to and basically had enough time to grab breakfast and take a shower before I headed to the church to help set up for the Community Supper. After setting up, all I had to do was count people, so that was fine.

Now, after working all weekend, I'm pretty wiped out. I'm taking a half day tomorrow, though, and I get to go see one of our regular company members' show in Lewiston tomorrow night. I'm excited about having a real weekend, though. I'm thinking I'm gonna go to Portland on Saturday to use my Body Shop Groupon, go to Lush, and shop for my Color Swap Buddy!

I know that this weekend was nothing compared to what summer's going to be like. I'm really excited about it, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Hopefully once my ad deadline hits on Friday, I can relax a little before jumping into crazy summer mode. And I get to go home to Baltimore for Memorial Day.

I think May is going to be a very good month.

Color Swap Partner & Aerie Underwear Haul

Hey guys!

I got the email about my Color Swap partner on Monday, and I'm so excited!

Her name is Devon, and you can find her here:

Her favorite color is coral, and it makes my inner color nerd really happy that our favorite colors compliment each other. Her blog is lovely, and I'm really excited to get to know her and pick out pretty girly coral things for her! New blog friends are the best.

In other news, New Hampshire was really fun, but it definitely strained the money situation a little more than I thought it would. I've been trying to save money, but of course things happened, and I feel like I've been spending even MORE money than usual.

But they're (almost) all things that I need or they're presents for other people, and I'm not totally broke. I just need to rein it in a little. One of the things that I have needed for a while is more underwear, so I may have taken advantage of Aerie's 7 for $26.50 sale...

Practical and pretty is my favorite!

This isn't all of them, but I forgot to take screenshots while I was buying them, so I think the others I got are now sold out. Brightly colored underwear make me the happiest little girl.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

There's a fine, fine line..

Hi guys!

It has been a crazy week so far!

This weekend, I went down to Plymouth to visit my alma mater and see Avenue Q. It was a crazy whirlwind of a weekend. I drove down Saturday morning, met up with Alex, her friends, Tyler, and Bob for lunch at Burrito Me, saw the show, grabbed ice cream with the gang and Kizer, wandered around campus, had dinner at Foster's, and finally crashed for the night.

On Sunday, I had breakfast at my favorite diner, grabbed vanilla chai from Cafe Monte Alto, popped into Burrito Me to catch up with Sarah for 5 minutes, and then got on the road. Stopped briefly in Conway to ride the Conway Scenic Railroad, and then set off back to Maine.

It was fun, but it was a lot of driving. Needless to say, I was already tired when I started this week. Then on Tuesday I had to get up two hours earlier than normal to volunteer at the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce Member Appreciation Day.

Today was the start of everyone abandoning me. My homestay parents left for Hawaii for two weeks today; Dawn won't be in Friday because her family is leaving to go to Disney, and Ryan won't be in the office most of next week because of spring tour rehearsals.

It's kind of nice, though, because it means that everything is starting to gear up. I only hope I'm ready for this summer!

In beauty news: I have a lot of exciting things coming up! I'm looking forward to sharing them with you guys!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Life Update

It has been a crazy month, you guys.

I've pretty much been going non-stop since I got back to TAM.

Between ads (selling, buying, and building), graphic design work, website work, press releases, program rebuilding, and everything else, I've been working my butt off.

Every once in a while, though, I feel like I actually know what I'm doing. It's a cool feeling. I had my first real meeting. I have people call to talk to me, and I'm being given the freedom to make decisions. It's a really great feeling.

Dawn is really excellent at giving me enough responsibility without overwhelming me with it.

We had a Board Retreat on Saturday, and though it was long, I felt really good about being there. Coming from zero marketing background, I know I have a long way to go, but I'm in the perfect place where everyone is patient with me while I do.

I'm really looking forward to this season. I have a ton to do between now and then, but I'm excited to spend another summer at this lovely hidden gem of a theater in the middle of nowhere Maine.

This weekend I'm going to Plymouth to see Avenue Q and meet up with Alex, so I'm really excited about that.

It's been a busy, but productive, fabulous month. I hope everyone else feels the same way!

My Skincare Story

Hi guys!

Today I thought I'd share a little bit about my dermatologist visit I had right before I left Baltimore. I have always had ridiculously oily skin. It's always been fairly sensitive and acne-prone too. Unless I had a TON going on, I never got really ridiculous breakouts, but they were always a constant for me.

Around November, I got off the birth control I had been taking since I was 15. Not for any particular reason, just because it happened, and at the time it wasn't important. I originally got on the birth control for period issues, and as I'm not having those issues anymore, I decided it wasn't a necessity to get back on the birth control right away.

My skin completely freaked out. I was having massive breakouts even with the least stress I've had in a while. At the beginning of the year I was put on my Mom's insurance, so I decided to take advantage of it and go see a dermatologist.

I talked to the doctor about what I was experiencing. We talked about what kinds of acne I suffered from (cystic, whiteheads, blackheads, pustules, etc.) and what sort of things I'd tried in the past. I know I'm fairly young, but I'm not 16 anymore, and now that I'm in a more professional setting work-wise, I'd really like to be able to put my best face forward. When the doctor asked if I wanted to hit it hard, I agreed.

So now I'm on two oral medications and two topical ones.

The two topical ones are Aczone:

And Tazorac:

The Aczone is a twice daily medication, and the Tazorac is a nightly medication. Unfortunately, these dry my skin out so much that I can't use them as often as I'm supposed to. I'm trying to work up to using the Aczone twice a day, but for now I'm only using it as night. The Tazorac ends up being once every 2-3 days or when I remember.

As for oral medication, I'm on an antibiotic (which causes issues of itself long term) and aldactone.

I'm coming up on a month of treatment, but I haven't seen any major improvements. The doctor in Baltimore said it could take up to two months, so I'll wait until the end of April and reassess then.

In the mean time, I need to invest in an excellent moisturizer so that my face doesn't fall off!

Major ball droppage

Guys.

I know. I dropped the ball. I dropped the ball, and it rolled under a desk, and I've spent the past two weeks looking for it. I found it, and I'm picking it back up, I promise.

I'm sincerely sorry for my absence. The past two weeks have just been ridiculously busy. It started with Dawn getting me started on a project toward the end of my furlough which I spent the majority of my time on. Then, just as that was coming to an end, I got sick. Right as I was getting done being sick, I drove to Connecticut to hang out with my best friend from college, and from there back to Maine. I got here on Sunday, started back at work on Monday, and I've been trying to get my feet back under me ever since.

But I will catch up. I'm starting now, and I will do my NOTW this Friday as usual. This weekend, I will unpack my stuff and figure out my blog so I can start posting regular content again. I have so many things I wanted to share with you guys, but I just couldn't find the time to get it done.

Please bear with me as I catch up on everything. I will try my hardest to regain my balance between personal life, work life, and blog life.

In repentance, please accept some pictures from the past two weeks.

(Late) Valentine's Day cookies

Paint Nite with my Mom

Best friend time with Alex

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas + Life updates

Hey guys!

Today I come to you after finishing up a DELICIOUS dinner. I made Skinny Chicken Enchiladas from Pinch of Yum, and they are amazing. I am all about slow cooker meals - the less prep the better! Plus, I can never say no to good Mexican, so I had to give this a try.

As far as slow cooker recipes go, this one is actually pretty fast. You only cook it in the slow cooker for 3 hours. Then you put it in the oven for 20 minutes or so. And you can pick your own spice level. I'm not big on spicy food, so I used mild salsa, but you could use any level and even add in some chili powder or oil if you wanted to.

The best part? Two enchiladas are only roughly 350 calories! Who needs enchilada sauce, right!?

In other news, I've been selling stuff on eBay for my neighbor and generally trying to keep myself busy. My mom and I have been doing yoga together, and I got an amazing massage yesterday. I also finally started reading the book on typography my mom got me in the fall. Hopefully that will lead into me looking at the sites I bookmarked about graphic design and brainstorming some ideas for the stuff I'm supposed to be working on!

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Long drives and late Christmases

Sorry this is a little late.

I've been a bum lately, you guys. Straight up.

I'm now back in Baltimore. I drove from Tallahassee to North Carolina yesterday. I wanted to make it to Virginia before I stopped for the night, but winter storm Janus had other ideas.

Now I'm back home and it's time to get down to business (to defeat the Huns) and start working on my resolutions. More reading. More exercise. More learning.

In other news, Alex and I FINALLY got to do Christmas tonight.

She gave me:

This beautiful scarf

Arrested Development pins!

This leaf-y bracelet!

I sent her John Green books and a mermaid necklace. We didn't get to talk very long, but we have a lunch "date" tomorrow.

I need to get my act together. Anyone got any tips for that?

Way down upon the Suwanee river..

It's been a minute since I updated purely about my life!

I had a very quiet holiday season, but it was good none the less. After New Years my sister and I drove from Baltimore to Tallahassee in a drive that should've taken us 13 hours, but really took us 15. We listened to show tunes and the Bastille album (more than once) and it really wasn't that bad of a drive. I'm not looking forward to making it by myself, though.

I've been in Florida for about a week and a half now. Caitlin and I spent time visiting the few friends we have left here and our family (and the kitties!)

Lauren and I at the bar

Kitty brothers tolerating each other

She left on Sunday, but I'm sticking around for a little bit. My laptop fell yesterday, so the glass is cracked in multiple places. My dad had the same thing happen to his phone and replaced it himself, so I'm hoping he can do the same here. My laptop is still perfectly functional, and the LCD itself is fine. We also have a flea infestation which means I'm currently covered in flea bites. Home sweet home, y'all.

New Years Resolutions

I'm a little late, but I needed some time to really get my thoughts together. These aren't really resolutions so much as they're things I'd like to change in 2014. I'm leaving them vague on purpose because I know how easy it is to fail when your goal is like "lose 20 million pounds." Instead, I'd rather have things in mind that will help me be a better me for the new year. I feel like that's all anyone can ask.

Focus on being healthier

This includes mind, body, and soul. I want to eat healthier, be more active, do more yoga and focus on me. It's not something I'm good at, but it's something I want to work on.

Read more

The 50 book challenge is back in full swing this year! I know I need to step it up because I wouldn't have finished if it weren't for sitting in the booth all summer, but that can be part of focusing on me too.

Keep in touch more

I have good friends. And I'm horrible at keeping in touch with then. I want to reach out more. I want to not shy away from the phone when one of them calls, and I don't feel like talking. And I want to do all of that without being concerned that they don't want to hear from me.

Keep learning

I started a new job this year, and although I've learned a lot, I still know relatively little. I want to focus on gaining new skills so that I can be the best marketing person I can be and get over the little obstacle that is having no formal training or schooling in the subject.

I'm sure there are more, but for now, that seems like a good list. I want this to be a good year for me. It has to be a good year for me.

What're you guys planning on changing for the new year?

New Year Announcement!

Happy 2014 you guys!

I've just got a little announcement for you today.

Since I'm on furlough from work for two months, my blog is going on a bit of a hiatus for January and February. I'll still be posting, just not as much.

I've decided I'm going to take part in Makeup Monday and post beauty-related things on Mondays. Wednesdays will be for personal or non-beauty related updates, and every other Friday will be a NOTW. As of now, this will only be temporary. Once I start having a normal schedule again, I hope to be back to posting every other day.

For now, though, I'll only be posting two or three things a week. This will start Friday and go until the beginning of March sometime.

Thanks for understanding and for reading! I really appreciate everyone who reads this blog, and I want to keep it going and spend time on the content I post instead of burning out because I set an unrealistic goal for myself.

I'll see you guys on Friday!

May your days be merry and bright..

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!

We had a rather unconventional one. We went out to brunch at Regis, opened presents, and then took a Christmas nap. I watched Live from Lincoln Center specials on Audra McDonald and Kristin Chenoweth. Then Caitlin and I watched a movie called Mozart's Sister. It was a quiet Christmas, but good nonetheless.

It's been a weird holiday season. One of my best friends from high school got married and one of my friends' mother passed away on the same day. The beginning and the end of this crazy adventure we call life.

I've been spending a lot of time with my sister watching Christmas movies and just generally hanging out. Next week we take the 13 hour drive down to Florida to see our dad (and my kitties!)

Until then, however, there's lots of shopping and errands to do!

And, in case anyone's interested, here's the video I made for TAM before I left:

50 Book Challenge

A week ago exactly, I officially finished my 50 Book Challenge.  I decided to challenge myself this year because during school, I never had time to read anything except required texts. I was excited to read for pleasure again. As I've gotten older, reading takes longer for me. I don't mean the actual reading speed (because I'm a speed demon) but it takes me longer to read a book because I rarely take the time to sit and read just because.

So I changed that.

At first, I was really afraid I wasn't going to make it. But thanks to spending a month in tech and two months running shows, I got through 50 books. Here they are, in all their glory:

Some of the order got screwed up because I started my challenge on December 19, 2012 instead of the first, so I had to make sure the Goodreads widget counted them toward my goal. You can check out all of the books, ratings, reviews, and more here. 

And, because I don't like reviews (and that would make this post ridiculously long) here's just a peek at my top five.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Paper Towns by John Green

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

 Did you partake in the 2013 Reading Challenge? Did you read anything wonderful? Let me know! I'm always looking for new books to read!

The most wonderful time of the year

Hi guys!

I know this is really late, but honestly, my life hasn't been that exciting lately. I felt the need to update you all on what's been happening in my life this week, though, so here goes:

Our Box Office Manager came for a few days to set up next season in our system so we can sell tickets. It was really great to see him and spend some time with him. We didn't know each other well over the summer, but I always enjoyed spending time with him when he was around. Plus, it was nice to talk to someone who's in the same boat as me with stuff and to have someone else in the office.

On Wednesday night Ryan and I drove to Portland to see a TAM alumni in The Santaland Diaries which is based on a David Sedaris story, and it was hilarious. Dusty is ridiculously talented, and he knows who I am, so that was pretty cool.

I spent Thursday and Friday working on my Marketing plan, ad renewals, and our End of the Year video. I'm actually hoping for a snow day on Monday so I can just work on it from home instead of going into the office. Everyone says it's not going to happen though. Oh well. Only one more week!

Today I slept WAY in and then went to Ulta and Target to almost completely finish up my Christmas shopping. I still have to buy something for my dad's girlfriend, but that requires me getting to The Body Shop, and the closest one is half an hour away. I'll do that once I get back to Baltimore since we're not doing Christmas with them until my sister and I get to Florida after New Years anyway.

At Ulta I picked up Nail Envy for my mom and some replacement foundation and powder for me. I also caved at the last minute and bought myself a mini The Body Shop Satsuma body butter. Seriously, the scent is amazing. Then at Target I bought gift supplies (tissue paper, bags, cards), a frame for my aunt's picture, and some gloves and a headband because it is COLD here.

I'm looking forward to going home and getting some time to relax. Hope everyone's holiday season is going well!

Bigfoot, and Nessie, and the Mothman, oh my!

Happy Monday everyone!

I've had so many things to talk about lately, that this kind of got lost, but I definitely want to share it!

A while back, I noticed Groupon had a two-for-one deal on tickets to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland. I a) thought that was awesome and b) didn't even know that existed, much less so close to me! I bought it, figuring I'd deal with the whole "who was going to go with me" issue later.

Well, not this past weekend, but the weekend before that I got to go!

Honestly, I was a little disappointed.

The museum was not big, two rooms about the size of your average hotel room, and the things in it just weren't that interesting. I've watched documentaries on Netflix that had more information than this museum had. It was kind of disappointing because it had the potential to be so cool! Oh well. The pictures I got were the coolest part. I just wish the information had been more interesting.

On a different note, I've realized that I've kind of quit talking about work lately. It's still going well, but I feel like I'm always reporting the same thing: website, next show, random etc. projects. Though this happened a few weeks back while I was going through the production history stuff:

 See the third name from the bottom? Yes, that's THE Patrick Dempsey. This one:

He was here! At my little theater. Sometimes my job is just too cool. Theater brings people together, y'all. Have a good weekend. =)

Things I Don't Love Thursday Link Up

Hi guys!

Today I'm linking up with Melissa Swenson's Things I Don't Love Thursday!





This is pretty self-explanatory. Stuff that I am just not about recently. So without further ado, here's what I'm currently not loving!

Nosy family members
Without going into the whole big long story, last week I received an envelope from my grandmother. Inside was an article on living with mental illness. I have an anxiety disorder. I've been living with it for 16 years now, and I'm pretty adept at dealing with it. I've had some set backs, of course, but now that I'm on medication, I can handle myself. So when I received this article, I was honestly pretty angry. Some of you may think it's sweet that my grandmother cares so much, but it's not like that. She consistently tries to act like she knows more about what I'm going through than she does, and I'm sick of it. Unsolicited advice is not something I go for, especially when it's unwarranted.

People who feel entitled
I don't mind working in the box office, I really don't. What I mind is when people think they deserve special treatment for one reason or another. We have a policy, and at the end of every phone call, I say, "Just so you know, all tickets are final sale; there are no refunds or exchanges." But I don't feel like people listen. I had a woman call up and order tickets last Wednesday. On Thursday, she called and said they had a conflict and needed to change their tickets. I politely told her we had a no refund, no exchange policy. Her response? "But I just called yesterday." ....did I say it was a no refund, no exchange policy unless you call back the next day? No. It's our policy, period. Granted, if someone has died or you're in the hospital, that's a different thing, and we'll happily exchange your tickets for another show. But not because you can't be bothered to check your calendar before you buy tickets. Go to any other theater, their policy is the same.

I honestly thought I would never stop talking on this post, but those are the only two things that have been really bugging me recently.

What aren't you loving lately?

And lonely is healing if you make it

I come to you today on a more sombre note than I usually do. I've been going through a rough patch lately. Between dating issues, the weather changing, and the people I love being far away, I haven't been feeling very happy.

I'm lonely.

Now, I'm a severe introvert, so part of my isolation is self-induced. But part of it isn't. Part of me likes sitting in my room with my books and my internet. And part of me is screaming, drowning, reaching for any small human connection. Phone calls and Skype dates are one thing. But I miss the sitting next to someone. The hugs, the ripples of laughter that bounce off each other, the comfortable silences. Sometimes I feel so lost I don't know what to do with myself. I sit on my bed, not wanting to read, not wanting to putter around the internet, not wanting to do anything, but feeling like I'm going to explode if I stay alone one more minute.

I'm not afraid to be alone, really I'm not. I conquered that fear long ago. I can happily go eat lunch, see a movie, shop for clothes by myself. But sometimes I don't want to. Sometimes I just want to not be alone.


I found this video a while back, and I think it's a good perspective on being alone. Society makes it out to be this awful thing, but it doesn't have to be.

 But I'm not just alone anymore. I'm lonely.