bulldog sitting is my specialty.

this weekend i am in the city sitting for my friend who is at a vegan bnb in mendicino.  jealous is one word i can use to describe how i feel about that, but lucky is another because i am relaxing up here as well so it is like a retreat in itself. 

buggsy's poo patch of dirt up the street.

we just kind of sit and stare at one another.

fog does not do wonders for my hair or glasses.

ocean beach smells like dog.

i'm thinking of having bingo night with my friend at the riptide later tonight!

365 days later lol

goddamn i am boring.  well, i don't think so but if i lived solely in terms of social media man.  what a snooze.  But it doesn't feel that way to me, not really, as this last year has been as difficult as any i can remember in a long time.  but not as bad as the past few years. 

i just reread my last blog post from august of last year, and i was in a similar situation (it's all running together now, oh the feels!).  i had just been laid off from my other PA job and i was puttering around the house.  my sister was staying with us and that is a blog post for another time let me tell you.  it was stressful, but she is now living independently with her son.  that's always good news! if we are friends on instagram or twitter you may have caught that i was a living an onion article on working in an office in rancho cordova--my last 9 months have been devoid of real progress on the self-work that i clearly require!  also lacking--balance.  so as i stepped down from my last job with some shred of dignity, i hope i realized that the trade off over the past 9 months wasn't beneficial to me, the gal who is living this life.  

fast forward to now:  and within one week of unemployment, i have landed another PT, less stressful and higher paying personal assistant (to a busy couple not care giving for, that distinction is important to me since my last position was an agency that worked with caregivers for disabled people) gig.  i am employed once again, and my daily routine just want from meh to POW.  i love serendipitous situations, which whether or not you believe in those types of unexplainable things, i find myself in quite a bit.  now i have time to: make things.  be creative.  be me.  this is huge, people. 

my handwriting skills have gone the way of the dodo.

speaking of making, our little fledgling button business is finally growing feathers, it's official that it's now taking over things with a life of it's own!  the funny thing is, and i hope you are sitting down for this, the more time i spend thinking and acting on it the more business i get!  not a true aha moment but close enough.  i have been getting referrals and repeat customers and just this week i got a monthly reoccurring order for a start up subscription based business.  i'm really excited because making buttons is like my zen happy place. i can zone out, reminisce of things, brain storm, day dream whatever i like.  and it gets me in a groove.  (more talk of balance.)  Here are some recent projects from 2CBC.

custom.  cute idea for your next event!

my friend's vegan bakery here in sacramento!  sassy oh baking co, their logo.

custom. birthday button

new skate & record shop in sacramento, their logo.

order for students, their image.

related:  i've really been missing NFB, the physical shop lately.  in local news, our sacramento version of voodoo donuts (no really they went up to pdx and got real inspired to open a donut shop) is closing after 3 years, citing burnout.  not only can we not get a decent vegan donut anymore...it kind of stung to hear that they had the luxury of "quitting" when money didn't come in to the equation for them like it did for me and our business. i know it's apples to oranges but i love and miss NFB dearly!  i do have my etsy shop and of course the button biz. ( i think here is where i insert the theme: balance.)

this is not the place where i promise to write more blog posts (nobody cares), sew more (i am going to gdi!), take more photos (i take a zillion a day, camera phone is replacing my real camera but i'm ok with that.  i embrace micro-blogging on IG and it embraces me).  no, that is not going to be the end of this post.  this is the place where i pat myself on the head and feel amazed that i lived through all of THAT and am not moving on to pushing through all of THIS. (BALANCE)

and then of course i do it all for these crazy people:

my family.  gotta love 'em!

next blog post:  i may just tell you a little story about the stray mama cat and her 4, 4 week old babies that are living in lucy's closet.  (*cough cough* what was that about balance?)

yard work is great for the soul.

yard work is great for the soul, especially when your soul needs a nice, big, fat ass kicking.  my yard is an abyss of leaves and leaves and more leaves.  i have the huge oak tree that sheds year round for that.  i pulled a mommy dearest on the privet trees, truth be told. 

lopping off branches is THERAPY.

my sister came to stay with us for a while and she is so motivating for things like cleaning up our yard which, until today was full of piles of leaves and spider webs in the trees leaves (scary).  we made planters, replanted flowers, succulents, cleared out so much branches and weeds.  i mean my yard looks TIGHT now.  i'm so happy it's cleared!  plus we scored a free gas lawnmower from the neighbors. it was a good lawn care day all the way around.

sometimes it just takes an extra set of hands and feet to get stuff done like you see it, the extra help could not come at a more needed time!  between school suddenly starting for lucy (i for some reason had it in my head that she started after lyric which is after labor day BUT NO her school starts in three days which led me scrambling to some degree but it wasn't the end of the world with the supplies--just new uniform shirts and jazz.  IT IS ANOTHER STORY ENTIRELY THAT WOULD LEAD ME TO NOT KNOW THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR ONE OF MY CHILDREN, so we won't go there out of respect for my pride.  it's not like i've had a lot on my plate or anything!), my job suddenly pink slipping me (yay?) and my sister staying here for a bit there has been some craziness over the last few days.  but hey, when is that never the case? i feel lucky to have her right now when i need to be looking for a full time position, she can help me with lucy and whatever else comes along. for that i am so very grateful.

hard work gave my soul the business today.  and that is just alright with me.

jeshy cat was not really ok with all the commotion but she does love a tidy yard!

in which i post pictures of our meager vegan vacation

our friends got married in portland over the weekend and we have been looking forward to this little mini-getaway for months.  i've had the date saved at my job since i started it was that important for me to plan this come hell or high water!  i do believe, the last solo vacation shawn and i have been on was when we eloped to get married in tahoe and that was a long time ago, lemme tell ya.

we were coming to git portland.

we tried to pack as much into the weekend as possible and the clear winner was shawn with a skate session several times per day with different groups of people each time.  i was impressed, and he had a permasmile.  i got to catch up with my friends at a cool little spot on hawthorne for some laughs and some wine.  and i also got to be a solo tourist down in the pearl.  i spent some quality time in powells and to see if our favorite sushi place was still there.

first things first though.  on the way up i got to spend a few hours and a very delicious dinner with gladcow clan.  tatchos and salad with vegan ranch and just some freshly made berry donuts made into a sunday with coconut cream whipped topping.  you know, nothing fancy ;p

salem porch time at dusk is our favorite time.

dinner & drinks a la summer.

my fridge magnet found in the wild! you can have one too, and now in different colors!  look here

very berry gf donuts made just cuz

and here they are over some vanilla soy ice cream and fresh berries.

we drove from salem to portand in record time.  that was my first and best time in salem.  i have literally never stepped foot there before that night. <3 font="">

what is a pdx vacation without all the other food pics you know i took?  nothing, i say.  so let the food pics commence!

here's me about to have sexy time with my sammich

soy curl bbq with a side of m&c.  #vegan

http://homegrownsmoker.wordpress.com/

sweetpea breakfast giving to me everything that i don't get here in sacramento.  a bagel with a vegan shmear.  fml.

sweetpea brekkie #2, the hooten-biscuits n gravy with grilled tempeh plus tofu. 

los gorditos location #2 did not disappoint with this tofu torta.  FML.

FULL VEGAN MENU.

so the reason we went to portland was for the wedding of our dear friends.  they had a lovely ceremony and reception at the portland historical mansion.  open bar!  old friends!  old ladies falling over in their chair!  slow dancing!  this wedding had it all.  did i mention it had a full bar?  speaking of bars, afterward little dave and i had the big idea to go to the bye and bye for some drinks and vegan bar food.  apparently i fell asleep sitting up in my bar stool.  THE SURE SIGN OF A GOOD TIME!  thank you shawn for being there for me in times like these, and being a sober driver! love you and your SxE ways!

we clean up nicely sometimes.

we're a happy couple sometimes too :)

bride!  melissa was beautiful.

i was triple fisting drink by this point.

shawn, jason and zach.

shawn looking all dapper.

so there was a lot of skating, snacking, socializing and snazziness going on back in our beloved pnw.  the girls got some good snacks for being so good while we were gone.  there were so many new places to check out since we had left what, going on 5 years this november.  TOO LONG. shawn skated new places, and met old and new faces.  i got to take pictures with the real camera, and lurk about while he skated his heart out. we had alone time on the last night and it was really fucking nice.  we both were some pretty happy campers--i can't remember being that happy in a while.  quelle sad to have to leave but so happy i have even more memories to tide me over for a while.    

snax for the girls!

shawn's fav skate shop.

he had a breakfast cookie that day lol

on the walking bridge above the skate park.  apparently they are taking the bridge out and "trying" to save the park below. 

zach, sara, rudy, shawn and little dave.

it's hard to take a shot of this while you are driving and you have a compass get in the way of a good shot. don't do this at home, kids.

melissa has a bowl in her backyard.  ridiculous!

two of shawn's oldest and dearest friends. three if you count the pug.

sk8rs

NEEDLESS TO SAY i miss portland dearly and you know that time when you go back to the place you call home, the place you didn't want to leave in the first place but you had to?  yeah, it's that time.  when we have a real come-to-jesus about what is going on with our lives, and maybe how we can get back get back get back to where we once belong.

PMA flags

i got my special package from my cousin jes today, and it was just as i imagined it would be:  awesome.  and it looks amazing swaggin' on my front window.

she even made it say "vegan" and "compassion".  nice!

so right now, i am taking a union break from getting ready to jet up to the grand old pnw back home to portland, oregon for a friend's sure to be gorge wedding!  shawn is in high heaven with all the skate-dates he has and i am peeping out some of my most dearly missed friends.  we are calling this our second honeymoon because we haven't had a proper vacation in um...years.  so we are jamming econo on this trip because we are just not those ones.  yet.

here is my favorite picture of my girls when they were small and we had a fun day at the woods in st. johns, shawn skated the park there and we went to proper eats.  which by the way, is totally proper.  :)  i can't wait to take lots of pics and have these new memories of our time in portland.  it will be hard to come back to sac.  it never really did feel like home to me...but home is where these two are, for real:

 

 

 

this teeter totter was SO SQUEEKY.  funny what you remember about special days...

i will miss ALL THE CATS (and the DOGS too...just a little though ;p).  i hope they are all happy to see us when we get back.  i love these little butthole kittens more and more every day.  all the jingle balls up and down the hall action at all hours, all the little cloth mice i step on, all the little wrappers they carry around and bat because they make that irresistible crinkle noises, when they dive for my ankles when i am trying to carry food to their food bowls.  *sigh*  i love them!

making bread on my belly.  24/7.  #catlady #porvida

next blog i will be reminiscing about portland and complaining how i am in the wrong state.  just you watch :)

buttons! new and some oldies but goodies.

so i designed and printed out the buttons i was mentioned i was making for my cousin's craft show.  these will look lovely on her table i think. buttons are the new business card, don't you know.  i can make some buttons for you too!  

visit etsy.com/shop/LOVErainn

 and for my etsy shop, i just added some new colors for the ever so popular "vegan food only" fridge magnet.  nice glaring brights so your guests and roommate can remember what's up in your kitchen.  go here to see what's new.

NO YOU CAN'T KEEP YOUR COWS MILK AND FRIED CHICKEN LEFTOVERS IN MY FRIDGE.

 

independence

i am having some independence from feeling like shit, so if that is something to celebrate i'm all in!  i switched up some meds, am taking some herbs for what appears to be perimenopause and i can say with some certainty that it's all coming together.  my thyroid could be at better levels but with my lack of insurance i can't really push the issue with this dr.  i'm lucky in a sense she listens to me on that issue at all and i get regular blood work! (come on obamacare, i could use a real insurance plan that works for me...yesterday!)

in crafty news:  i updated my ETSY SHOP with some cute pocket mirrors and pins i've been meaning to list for ages and a neato vintage mid-mo crock set.  check it out.  my cousin jes down in merced is trading me a very cool custom vintage fabric prayer flag for some of logo buttons as she doing a craft show there at the end of the month and having giveaway-buttons on your table is always a good thing (pro-tip for vending.  that and having some candy.  people love a little wrapped candy.).  i will be sure to post pics of the buttons i make for her, maybe you need some too?  while you are on etsy check out her shop, LOVErainn for some flags for some inspirational words of peace & blessin's :)

so this past week we have been doing another extended overnight pet sit, and this family has ALL THE RESCUES.  hens from animal place, a guinea pig, some of the biggest rabbits i've ever seen, cats and dogs out the ying yang.  i had the 4th of july duty and i am happy to say they were just *a little* traumatized by the noise.  this is out in arden arcade so their version of the 4th of july and the version we get here in our hood is quite different!  i have to say it was quite pleasant for me anyway.  and i got to bond with the best weenie dog i have ever met.  remember if you are local to sac i do overnight pet sitting!

,

monkey paws.  *love*

things i am grateful for:  tuesdays off so i can again take care of my own business and have a standing library date with the girls while they enjoy being lazy for summer break, a trip to PDX later this month for our friends wedding. it's been too long since we've been back and i am beside myself with excitement (ROAD TRIP!), and the fact we just lived through 7 days of the worst heat wave to hit us yet so i know i can survive just about anything after that mess!  most thankful our air conditioning unit did it's job and i can't even worry about the 24-7 running of the air conditioner bill yet.  we didn't die!  yay!

i don't know if we will be able to swing the fair this year again or not.  i would at least like to go one time and ride some rides and have some wine slushy.  you know i have never ridden the monorail?  there is only two monorails in california and the other one is at disneyland.  i suppose i should bucket list that, since i'm here.  

ciao, and until next time.