House Arrest

What have I learned in the last two weeks of selling cards? A) that I have an incredibly supportive community B) That it is weird selling your own art C) Etsy is addicting D) June is the start of tourist season (I already knew that actually) and E) Ordering things online is fun and cheaper... it brings together my two favourite things, buying things and receiving mail.
As you readers know, I spent all my money in Seattle. Clifford (my red volkswagon beetle) is out of gas. So I cannot go anywhere and I cannot do anything. That is an exaggeration as I am doing things, they are just things that I can do in my pyjamas. This includes watching The Wire, eating cereal, drinking coffee and playing on my computer. I'm planning on going for a walk to my mailboxes which will be a party I'm sure.
My Corona umbrella I won came in the mail! But I cannot go get it because as stated earlier I have no wheels.
I have now convinced my Dad that the Seattle Outlet Mall is the Mount Olympus of shopping. I believe we will be going there for retail therapy and a baseball game.
In other news I'm now reading the fourth Game of Thrones book. It is good to be back in Westeros. I'll write a whole post about it soon.

Good Day, Seattle.

Headed back on the ferry as I write. I must say I much appreciate the free wifi made available to me.
I'm not sure that our trip could have been any better. Torrie won enough money to pay for the hotel, the ferry, food, his purchases at the mall and STILL come out with money to put on his credit card.
I have no money. HOWEVER, I do have lots of new pretty things for a fraction of its regular price so I am pleased. The Tulalip outlet mall is seriously rad. I got an Adidas hat, three shirts, two pairs of shorts, a dress, a purse and a pair of shoes for probably 180 dollars. The shoes are very nice and teachery as are 2/3 tops. The hat will be good when I'm working at camp in a couple weeks.
It's weird, I start work in like a week and a half. I am very excited and also nervous. Which I imagine is pretty standard when beginning a new job. Especially one that pays more than I have ever made.
The moral of this post though, is if one is in Seattle or there abouts, go to the outlet mall and stay at the resort casino. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Also become a rewards member as they give you discounts. And discounts are nice.

Oh Silly Me

On our way to the outlet malls this fine (it is actually so nice out right now) morning. Turns out that we are not taking the Clipper ferry as I previously assumed. Apparently I was actually quite silly for thinking we were taking the Clipper as we are in fact not actually going into Seattle.
These are important lessons I am learning.
I've been taking pictures like a tourist today and not someone who has taken BC ferries 800 times. But I'm hoping that I get a couple really good shots for some new cards. I got into a few shops yesterday! Seems like this might actually be something that makes me some money.
Took a picture of a float plane that my dad loves. He wanted to get a print. Little does HE know I'm going to get him the picture on a canvas for Fathers day. Or... Rather, I'm going to order the print and my brother (who has a steady income) will pay for it.
Got an email with information about my summer job too. So that will be nice, pay off my credit card and all that.
Well that is my Seattle update. I suppose I shouldn't even say Seattle. But Tulalip is hard for me to say.

2am...

I suppose this is a lesson that if I am not spending an exuberant amount of my energy resource during the day (like when I'm teaching) napping for three hours is a bad choice. When I'm working at a school I can nap for a bunch of hours after I arrive home and still be able to get a solid 7 hours of sleep that night. Apparently taking pictures does not require the same amount of energy as 24 twelve year olds. Go figure.
So what to do at two. Well, I've exhausted my daily etsy exploration as well as spammed Facebook enough to sufficiently annoy all my friends. Nothing new on pinterest, nothing exciting in terms of tv (I've never been one for infomercials) and every time I read I feel like I get tired enough to sleep. But then I end up going back to my cell phone and spin the whole process over because hey, maybe something changed in the last 15 minutes.
In other news I dropped my cards off at merridale cidery. Then I wandered around the little seaside village and chatted with a shop and a gallery owner. I am going back down tomorrow (which is actually today) to show them some samples.
I suppose napping tomorrow would be a very bad idea because Monday is Seattle day and I need my rest for the shopping marathon. Must be in peak physical condition for such a venture.
It's funny, no one has read anything on here for like... 4 days, yet I keep posting. It does stave off the bored and I do think I'm getting sleepier.
Tomorrow I will be sharing information on another local photographer who is very talented. So stay tuned my mon existent followers, stay tuned.

Bumblebees and Boats

I have been sitting in my yard attempting to take a "good" picture of a bumblebee for the last... Oh I don't know, 2 hours? This is after I went down the road to the ocean and took about 100 pictures of the sail boats booting it around the bay I live by (ah, alliteration at its finest right there). Needless to say most of my day has been trucking around with my camera. Last night I was up late painting as well. Later I'm going to the winery to drop off my card order.

Monday I'm going to Seattle! Torrie and I are going shoooopping. Which I don't have an exuberant amount of money to do, however I do have some saved up from card selling that will get me a few things. And if what Torrie says is true, I should be able to find some wicked deals there.

Life is busy here in Kim land, even though I thought it wouldn't be.

Silly me.

Poor People Should Not Love Video Games

I'm sitting here watching the Nintendo keynotes presentation. Turns out very soon my wii will be obsolete. I knew that it would happen eventually, however I feel as though I haven't spent enough quality time with my gaming system. So what does this mean? It means I need to a)play more video games b)buy more wii games before they dont sell them anymore and c)buy the new console.... The issue with this game plan (heh) is my financial situation. Also I still have another semester of school so that will probably cut into my sweet game time.
This new console is awesome. Called the WiiU its got like this hand held thing that is a touch screen. Kind of like the Nintendo 3DS you have two screens to control.
Sigh. I have this feeling that when when I do start making money I won't keep a lot of it. My habits are expensive.
In other news I've sold some cards and prints and one of my small paintings! So that should help me buy like.... A shirt or something in Seattle.
Expensive habits, people.

First Day in The Vegas

I have this issue where I get really enthusiastic and excited about anything that is out of the ordinary. One might think that this is a good quality, however when one is trying to sleep before waking up at 3:30 am to catch a flight to Las Vegas.

I think I probably slept two hours. My boyfriend, whom was accompanying me on the trip--probably got less.

We were still able to wake up at the appropriate time, though I'm pretty sure I was just running on autopilot.

We caught our flight at 6am, had a stopover in Seattle and then arrived in Vegas around 10:45. I still was in shock. The weirdest thing was that Torrie and I hadn't seen each other since my birthday on Sunday. We weren't going to Vegas at that point, and then when we saw each other again we were heading to Nevada. I was so grateful to MTV and Sony, as well as just fate in general. It sounds hockey but if it had happened on any other weekend we wouldn't have been able to go. Honestly it was like the stars aligned in order for us to go.

When we got there I had a case of total overstimulation. There was literally way too much to look at. The cab driver gave us a coupon book which became my primary concern during the taxi ride to our hotel. Torrie was a little bit less overwhelmed so he was able to look at the sights.

The sheer size of Vegas is just shocking. Everything looks so close together because it is so huge. However, once you start traveling you realize that it is actually not as close as you would think.

We headed to Caesar's Palace first so we could get our room set up.

When we arrived in the lobby it was absolutely incredible. Neither Torrie or I had ever been to Vegas so our mouths and eyes were wide open.

The lady at the desk was very helpful, as well as incredibly nice. I gave her the whole story about how it had been my birthday, I had won the contest and we were both Vegas Virgins. Because she was so nice, she gave us a complimentary upgrade. Little did I know that that meant we would be staying in a king sized bed, on the twenty sixth floor, with a bathroom the size of my apartment.

Thank you, kind lady. Thank you so much.

The first day was spent primarily looking around and walking. We went to the MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Cosmopolitan and as many other hotels as we could look at. We ended up eating at a place called the "Studio Cafe" at MGM.

Let me just say one thing. The food in Vegas is designed to give you some kind of health issue. The portions are ridiculous. Just incredibly enormous. And delicious. I'm a foody, so it was glorious.

I am also a napper. I enjoy naps on a daily basis. I don't function so well on less than 7 hours of sleep. My boyfriend does not have this affliction, but even he was pretty tired come 4 pm. We decided to head back to the hotel and spend one precious hour hanging out in the king sized bed. I immediately fell asleep. At least when I woke up I was rejuvenated enough to get ready and go to the Cosmopolitan to enjoy the musical soundings of The Shins, courtesy of my friends at MTV and Sony Music.