Tracy.... where did you go?

Wow - who knew that taking on the not-so-new job would take my happy little world... crumple it into a ball... and toss it in the trash? Certainly not me. I have totally lost myself. I'm cut off from my altered art group, I can't get anything done that needs daytime hours, my business is going down the drain, my hair is in dire need of a stylist but she keeps the same hours I do so I'm screwed, I have not seen my friends in weeks, I'm too tired to go to my other job, I never cook anymore and worst of all, I have not created a single piece of art since I got hired. I hate having to cram my 'to do' list, family and friends into a 48 hour time slot - because trust me, it all doesn't happen. I have to tell you, I hate money. I've sold my soul to the workplace, so I can 'live'. Ya right - what living? I want my life back.

wish list : bird lamp

Is this the coolest oil lamp or what? It's on my wish list.

A little DAQ does a person good

With little time and inspiration to work on my collages these days, I've been blessed to have hooked up with some fun & crazy woman at Digital Art Quirks.
I can sneak a little creative time when I'm having my coffee or right before bed, to create some digital art and just hit 'save' when I have to leave it to rush off to work. It's kept me in the creative zone at least, until I can get back into my 'tangible' art.
Here is a design I did for a magnet swap with the DAQ gals.
I made it in photoshop, then sent the file to my local print shop for printing and laminating. I cut them out, stuck on a magnet and voila - a quick and easy swap fulfilled.
Another project is kind of a 'right of passage' for the group. It's the quirk naming ceremony. We choose our first name and create a digital collage for it. Then the next person on the participation list comes up with your second name and voila - you have a new quirky name within the community. We then can create a third collage with our new name.
For my own first name, I chose 'spirited'. This is the collage I created for it:

Then Kate (digime) created my second name 'wings' for me, and created this heavenly collage for me:

So my new DAQ name is Spirited Wings. I will create my final collage for it this week.
It was my pleasure to give Helen (belles) her second name. She chose 'eclectic' for her first name and I chose 'butterfly' for her second, so her new name is Eclectic Butterfly. Here is the collage I created for her:

Operation "outfit" a success

Yesterday, I made the treck back to Eugene to find an outfit to wear the bank's Christmas party, after coming home empty handed in last week's fiasco of a trip. I clocked 170 miles on the ol' Bonnevissle looking for it, and finally at 6:35pm it came together. (so much for getting home before dark) While it's still more casual that I was hoping for, it will do. I'll jazz it up with lots of bling bling jewelry :)

Mint Chocolate update....
I am SO LOVING the navigation thingy on my new phone. I just type in a store name, or any address and it searches it out and tells me how to get there, turn by turn. Yippee... no more driving by the exit I need and aPublishsking "should I have gotten off there?"

The 'girls' Christmas party for the bank was last week.... this is the sweet present that I got:

Recovered

Whew... I have recovered from my bad day :) Thanks for all the sweet emails. I love hearing your stories ... don't be afraid to share them here on my comments page, unless of course they are private, then your emails are great too. Either way, thanks for taking the time to write me!

So how's the shopping going? Everyone done? I just started this weekend so I have a lot to do still, but I like shopping in December. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of people. Maybe if I had to buy an Elmo or PS3 I would hate it, but since I don't have to hunt down those items, I'm doing ok. My last paycheck before the holidays is the 15th, so I'll be shopping till at least the 20th.

I don't know if I blogged about my job or not (I don't think so), but besides my art, my shop and my friend's business, I'm also working at our local bank. It was a major change for me.... and everything suffered the first few weeks... I came home too tired to do anything, but now I'm feeling ok. The only thing that is suffering still is my art.... I just don't have time - and it's killing me. I can't just create on Saturday and Sunday when I have the time. And I can't stay up all night anymore or I have to suffer from a migraine at work, which I just can't do. So I'm hoping that soon.... very soon.... I will regain the energy to create after work, and that inspiration will at hand on the weekends.

My aweful, no good, very bad day...

went something like this:
-get up at 5:00 am to take our sweet friend to Eugene to the train
-argue with grumpy husband in the car
-fight with grumpy husband in the car
-get hurt feelings and tune out grumpy husband, still in the car
-realize the tags on my car expired 2 days ago (while 65 miles away from home, on a Saturday when the DMV is closed) (for my Canadian pals, the 'tags' are what Americans call the date stickers on the license plates)
-spend way too much on soap making supplies
-return much need and highly desired soap making supplies
-look for an outfit for work Christmas party
-try on an outfit for work Christmas party
-look terrible in an outfit for work Christmas party
-stop at music store to pick up keyboard for son's Christmas present, then realizing it doesn't exactly fit in the car (with expired tags)
-see a fantastic movie (doesn't belong on the bad list, but it's the only good thing, so no point making a good list)
-keep looking for an outfit for work Christmas party
-try on more outfits for work Christmas party
-looking terrible in more outfits for work Christmas party
-leaving town without an outfit for the work Christmas party
-getting stuck on the drive home for 1.5 hours because there's been a terrible accident on the hwy
-driving by the crash site, feeling horrible sadness for the victims
-driving the rest of the way home with a horrible migraine
-running over and killing a poor, innocent raccoon 15 miles from home
-crying the rest of the drive home, trying to see through my tears and apologizing to the raccoon, the raccoon's family, my son who's in the car with me, God, and pretty much anyone else who would deem me a horrible person for not being able to swerve out of the way
-falling into the most uncomfortable bed in the world with swollen eyes, a migraine

That was my Saturday.
Today I didn't get out of my jammies, didn't shower, didn't answer the phone, and didn't do anything but try to regroup, rest and take the entire day off.