The Swank Patrol

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:00:46 GMT

long time no post

Hope everything is going well for you all. I need to get out of Joann's end of story - I applied for a new job the other day but I am really starting the deep search. I realized that I have been making excuses for a while that "it's not the best time" to look for a new job, and I just found out we lost our new store manager so chances are the store will go into complete chaos. I'm not going to stick around to help bail it out this time - I really like some of the people I work with but it's just not worth it at all to deal with so much crap.

I have a cute hamster, I will probably update again even later

yay surprise

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:10:09 GMT

Kevin went to go run errands an to the bank, when he came back home he surprised me with delicious chocolate and roses! yay it made me happy. We never settled on an actual date for our anniversary but it's been 3 years since the timeish we got together.

Other than that I suppose I should update a little more. I decided I am going to school starting late summer/ fall for my certificate in fashion technology. I am excited about this it may take me a year to two years depending on how many classes I take at a time. I think it will be a good experience though and I will have fun, it's basically adding the next level of my fashion education on.
I am now a manager at Jo-ann's and I'm still teaching for the Handwork Studio, so I am having a good time with those however someday it will be nice to not live in poverty (I guess I will just add more school loans to make that happen?) I was offered a full-time, pto, benefits etc. upper management job from Jo-ann's which sounded all well and good except I found out that I need to have full availability (meaning you can have no life) and I'm not just saying available to work 40+ a week but I would have to quit teaching and I wouldn't be able to go back to school. It seems very strange to me that they require that; I really like my store and the people I work with. However it seems like corporate has been making a lot of changes (obviously trying to deal with the economy etc) however I think the changes are going to hurt the personal level of attention that we were able to give with customers and it's just going to be all so "businessy"

ok that is my little update.

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:24:12 GMT

In today's events did anyone else notice just how genuinely happy FORMER President Bush looks? It reminded me of just what a likable guy he seems to be when he is not in charge of the country- I just wanted to give him a high five.

anyway yay everyone seems so proud and happy for today

Adios 2008

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:25:44 GMT

This year has been the biggest year of my life by far. On the upside I have successfully graduated from school, moved out of state, moved in with a boy, got a job, got 2 jobs, got 3 jobs. Found out I am the queen of zippers and it is possible to sew 4 pairs of pants before noon. I also got a chance to go California and back to London with some French exploration.

On the downside I have to pay big girl bills and don't get to see my friends as much as I would like. The biggest thing of course was the growing knot of fear in my stomach that started in April when I visited dad in the hospital a couple days before my graduation and spiralled into a haze in October. It finally settled in when dad and I didn't get our Christmas tree this year - I brought a spray of fresh greenery to him and saw his name plate stuck into the snow covered ground.

Since October 18th I have been able to go 11 days at the most with out finding out someone else I know has died. There must be something real good up there right now. But this is why I just want 2008 to be over with - 2009 has to be better down here.

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:27:28 GMT

I spent today trying to do some christmas shopping... thank you target for the lovely turquoise heels on clearance for 5 dollars. You have made my day.

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:23:24 GMT

I am enjoying some lion bars however I think my body is trying to go into hibernation.

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:50:20 GMT

everything sucks

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:37:44 GMT

I'll be heading back home for a while.

Last night I talked to my dad and told him to feel better. I'm glad just to know he isn't suffering anymore. I don't think there is much more I can say right now and I know it hasn't really hit me - I am at that point where I'm just trying to grasp the fact that my father is gone and he will really be missed.

Crude Oil Down? Gas Price up?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:30:32 GMT

So something fishy is going on... If you go onto CNN.com you will see two headlines side by side.

Price of Oil Falls Sharply and Gas Prices Rise

Now the first article determines that the price of crude oil has tumbled on the market given that Hurricane Ike did not hit as hard as he feared. The oil refineries shut down to prepare but no major harm was done. Oil drops to $96 a barrel for the first time in ever. In the next article it repeats the same thing immediately followed by the price of gas soars past $4 dollars in some states...

Now I keep seeing all these articles about the prices of gas going up a ton because of the hurricane... I understand that the refineries shut down for the storm... But since there was no major harm to them shouldn't they be able to open back up quickly? It seems weird that if the price of crude oil plummeted at the same time that 25% percent (leaving 75%) of the nations refineries at to shut down that the price would go up that sharply... It seems that it would basically even out (you know especially if any gas station in this country would stick with the price they determined to sell per gallon when the bought that shipment of gas) or maybe rise just a little but I watched in two days as the price of gas changed 5 times over the weekend from 3.41 to 3.57 (I don't think they got 5 new shipments of gas in either)

hmmm
needless to say to our presidential candidates... why are some of you so bent on drilling domestically if our source of fuel is going to be this vulnerable?
another question for you - you mock other candidates saying that they have no plan against Middle Eastern extremists... but lets wait just a minute and think. Where does the money in the Middle East come from? Oil? yes that is right. So even if we were to drill domestically for our oil supply we would still be adding value to the price of oil (oil is the currency of terrorists you know) But if we were to shy away from oil and really work on a more sustainable fuel we would be devaluing the currency of evil (oil).

I think if the republicans could step outside their box they could really enjoy that phrase (it does seem like something they would come up with): the currency of evil.

On another republican note, while talking to Vanessa the other day I realized what all this change is that the republican party keeps saying they are for: climate change
Thank you Governor Palin, I hope the Inuit tribes haunt you in your sleep for trying to destroy their sacred lands.

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:46:07 GMT

it's a no good terrible very bad day

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:26:12 GMT

See you on Friday!
Woo-hoo I got a new job (only for a month though, apparently I am the queen on contract jobs) anyway it will be fabulous teaching sewing at a "fashion bootcamp" ANNNNNDDDDDDD
I have Friday off and Saturday and Sunday... ohhhh that's right harborfest is this weekend isn't it??? well maybe...just maybe... hell yea I'm coming up for it!
So let me know who will be in town because my computer is still dead so I am on Kev's and can't figure out how to get his ichat to let me sign in and aim express won't work, that is why I haven't been on in a while.
weeeeeeee

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:14:15 GMT

weeee, I am wrapping up my job in allentown at the end of the week. I have truly enjoyed it and The Who's Tommy is looking pretty fabulous! Kiss Me Kate was decked out in gold trim but Tommy is silver sparkle alllll the waaaaaayy. anyway I will be back in Blue Bell with the boy. still looking for a new job - hopefully I won't be unemployed for that long

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:26:36 GMT

i am enjoying work so far however I have made a few observations that I would like to share:

1: if you make this big deal about volunteering to bring work home to do, you should have it done the next day

and 2:
if you are so health conscious that you won't eat partially hydrogenated vegetable oil... you should quite smoking

thank you

Fri, 30 May 2008 01:23:58 GMT

so i probably won't be on aim for a little while... i got the blue screen of death last night and my recovery disks are being mailed to me... but i don't know if that will help or not. I can at least update in the computer lab for now though.

oh PA

Sat, 24 May 2008 00:09:10 GMT

so here i am in allentown, pa. Graduation weekend was fun Mom, Jen, Elaine, Marc, Mike, Aunt Carol and Uncle Bob came down for the festivities. It was really nice, and they were a great help when it came to moving out. Dad wasn't able to go, the doctor told him he would be best to stay home - which I assumed he wouldn't be able to go when he got out of the hospital just a few days before. He is feeling better but has been having a lot of tests done, and they aren't really sure what is going on - the cancer screenings have been negative so that is good. Dad is a medical mystery in a lot of respects.
Kev and I survived the big U-haul towing his car for 5 hours, even though it took us 20 minutes to get out of a gas station...
We moved into our absolutely adorable apartment and got completely unpacked and set up in 24-hours. Now I am in Allentown for the next few weeks building costumes for a summer theatre festival.
We have 2.5 weeks to build everything for Kiss Me Kate (30 characters with multiple costumes)... so lots of work, it's been fun though sewing and serging and cutting and all that. The show will run for about 3 weeks while we are working on the costumes for Tommy, that however should be less strenuous which will be nice. After work today I took a walk to discover the farmer's market which is held inside at the fairgrounds a few blocks away. It was quite amazing and I can't wait to buy my groceries there, it reminded me of some of the markets I went to in England, and there were even scones! but no welsh cakes :(

Sun, 18 May 2008 05:37:08 GMT

bye bye new york

AHHHH bad mood

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:11:10 GMT

verizon is making it impossible for me to get ahold of them about my dsl account. As soon as i give up on that they think it's perfect timing to text me and tell me that my new cell bill is $$120.00!!!! what the hell? my check from AIU still hasn't come. then i get home to walk into the giant puddle on the bathroom floor after someone dyed their hair, left the box of hair dye and a clip in the sink - and then left their dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Graduation, new adventure and I need a shop name!

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:58:01 GMT

Hi all,
I will be coming home to Oswego for the weekend. I only have finals on Thursday and Tuesday which make it prime home coming time. I really wanted to come see friends that are in town, my puppy and the rest of the family. Dad got out of coming to my fashion show because he hurt is back, now he is trying to get out of coming to graduation by spending some time in the hospital. I'm not falling for any of his trickery, hopefully he just has pneumonia and should be fine and out by the time i get home.
So I had my last official college classes today, it was rather strange, it will be even more weird when everything is completely done. Graduation is on the 17th and Kev and I will be packing up a u-haul with our lives (I have more stuff in my life than him so it will be interesting) and going down to Blue Bell, Pa the day after. Blue Bell is one of the Philly suburbs, and somehow we got a decently priced apartment in a rich people area (median income is like 100+). So two days after moving into the apartment I will be going to Allentown to start my job with the Muhlenberg Summer Theatre Festival for a few weeks, they will have such awesome costumes. Hopefully I will be able to find something decent right after I am done working for them in July.
During this time I will also finally be setting up my own shop on ETSY.com, selling clothes and accessories. So I need a shop name, please comment with ideas!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:58:34 GMT

Today in ballroom dance we learned the Lindy to "wake me up before you go-go".
I needed to share that with everyone.

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:01:06 GMT

I wanted to make a general announcement. I will be working for 2 months of the summer in Allentown PA in a costume shop for the Muhlenberg Summer Theatre Festival. After that I will be relocating to the Philadelphia area with Kevin and hopefully finding another awesomely cool job for quite a while. Visitations will most certainly be welcomed.

Happy April

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:38:44 GMT

Hello Everyone!
Today is a fabulous day, I just got done spray painting a pair of shoes blue (the don't need to last that long). Why is it so hard to find navy blue pumps? I don't understand.

Anyway, just a few days left until the fashion show. I am in pretty good shape except my advisor doesn't like/understand one design so I have to figure out what to do about it. Maybe if I just bought a pattern and made a simple dress like half the other people I would be fine or if I just took a square of fabric and added some tie straps like the other half she would like it better.

Yesterday I decided it was time to use up my gift certificate for an hour massage that kev gave me, it was sooo nice however for the rest of the day I didn't feel like doing anything besides sit around and read magazines. So it was relaxing.

I have safely returned from Europe, it was a very fun time. Mally and I basically walked across Europe (sometimes in the wrong direction) but we had a grand adventure. European supermarkets are so funny, I like finding random stuff and coming home with a bag of mini-lion bars... mmmmmmmmmm candy. It was so nice to be back in London even if we were greeted with snow and wind and cold... the sun eventually came out. We even got to have a little picnic style lunch in Hyde Park. Quite lovely, we even got first class entertainment between pigeon "getting it on" season and the random guy 20 feet away practicing for a play. Nice was a very cool little city, I really liked all the architecture and the fun people at the hostel. When we went to Monaco we decided to take a little stop in the town of Eze which was very quaint and so medieval, however the bus decided we should stay there for 2 extra hours. not cool! Paris was very pretty as well, except I kept thinking I was in my art history classes... DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH IN PARIS (or at least with an American accent) unless of course you want to make people nearly commit suicide out of disgust for talking to you. And if anyone walks up to you asking if you speak english, just play dumb or dead (either works) unless you feel like having a cup of change shoved in your face expecting you to give more. despite that it was still a very fun day. I could really go for some wagamama's right now, or a crepe.

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:45:49 GMT

Today is the day! We are leaving in just a few hours to go to the airport. and then... on to London, Nice, Monaco and Paris. Could there be a better spring break??? Happy Easter everyone!I didn't get to dye eggs this year :( But the easter bunny did leave me candy last night!

Cheers!

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:00:45 GMT

ok so I have felt like a really big biotch lately, it seems like everyone is pissing me off in one way or another. Perhaps I am being unreasonable but it all comes down to common courtesy. I really feel that most of the world is completely oblivious to everyone else. Is it strange that in my everyday activities I stop and think things like "oh maybe I will clean up the water I just spilled everywhere on the floor before someone comes home" or "let me hold the door for that person who is carrying tons of books" or "oh this person is having people over for dinner maybe I should actually show up when they tell me instead of being fashionably late".

I feel bad because I've started retaliating towards both my friends and perfect strangers. Maybe I shouldn't have used that tone of voice calling my friends who were suppose to be over for dinner (an hour late) but I was reaaaallly hungry. And Sir, When it is raining I would appreciate it if you would smoke outside in the rain instead of smoking in the bus stop... you smell, and if you didn't I wouldn't have made such a big deal, I'm sorry if I humiliated you.

Please if you have dirty hands... wash them not wipe them on a dish towel. I like to dry my dishes with clean things... since you know the dish is clean to begin with.

Anyway that's my rant.

OH WAIT another thing.
So I decided what a great idea it would be to make jewelry on the plane for the fashion show, easy way to kill a couple of hours if i can't sleep. So I looked it up on the TSA website to see if i could bring pliers and wire cutters and wire and a sewing needle etc. The TSA permits scissors, knitting needles, and small tools (ask long as the metal or blade part is under 4.5 inches. So I'm like ok I think that applies but I will e-mail them and ask specifically about the sewing needle, wire cutters etc. I get a message back with them saying "this is all on our website" then they copy and paste a section that is all specific to knitting...
So I guess I will be knitting some awesome jewelry on the plane.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:46:20 GMT

So as the snow has melted and a layer of trash is revealed; I have grown utterly discontent. Why do people think trash belongs on the ground? Did we not learn in grade school what is considered garbage and where it goes, also what things are recyclable and what to do with them? I watch the very people who complain about gas prices being so high get into there jeeps after throwing there plastic water bottle into a trash can (which is located 2 feet from the bright blue recycling bin labeled DASANI)... do you know plastic comes from??
What has happened? Have we really regressed this much since elementary school? Where does the problem actually start, do we not have enough trash cans... I know we certainly don't have enough recycling bins. But when either are in the area why aren't the used? One person pointed out to me that once again there is a clear difference between upstate and downstate... and honestly the downstate people are use to seeing trash all over the place so they must think that the ground is where it belongs. Maybe this is true, but how do we fix it.
I made up a petition last year that got 1200 signatures for better paper recycling on campus, the college president was thrilled there for we got more recycling bins clearly marked for bottles...
ok welllll, that is something right? The point isn't clearly lost. I helped organize a big concert to promote sustainability which got a lot of attention but recyclables are still being thrown out and trash doesn't even make it to the trash can. So I made boxes and labeled it for paper and notebooks to put in each residence hall and in some computer labs... this temporarily worked! except that one helping person and myself can not pick these up every few days from 20 buildings and bring it to the transfer site, plus eventually the janitors just threw boxes out.

SO WHAT MORE IS THERE TO DO??
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/10/vatican.updates.sins.ap/index.html

Thank you Vatican, it is now a SIN to pollute and contribute to the problems of your environment.
If only the Catholic Church had its power to strike fear into the heart of the population as it once did.
Just remember, when you don't properly discard an item - Jesus is watching.

good day!

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:07:46 GMT

So time for an update because I am having a fantastic day.
1st off I got an A on my textiles science test, and started the history of costume II class. I saw some of the plans for the Fashion show set and they will be fabulous. I also got a job to promote venus razors for a day next week (making $75 in a couple hours, not tooo bad.)
So also for the fashion show I really was hoping to find a version of David Bowie's Rebel Rebel with an orchestra or strings or something that would fit a little more with my line. So my darling boyfriend was nice enough to go into the studio today and make me just that through the magic of fancy programs. Very happy.
Also Kev got a job offer from Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana... what the heck am I suppose to do? Well I have a phone interview on Wednesday with Vera Bradley which happens to be based in... Fort Wayne, Indiana. So we'll see.