Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our 7 year anniversary. We count from the day we moved in together. It was very nice. Even though I was feeling under the weather we tried to make it special.

BF made reservations at my favorite restaurant. It's this tiny little Chinese restaurant that makes amazing food. There are NO Chinese places near our house which makes me so sad. I love this little place. It's in an area that is older and lined with amazing shops and places to eat. The interior is cozy with real tablecloths and candles lit on each table. We get to bring our own wine and I love that.

We chose a meal for 2 that lets us have a whole variety of stuff. I'm a girl who likes to try a little bit of everything. Usually when we go out BF and I will order meals we both like and share. This is how I know we're meant to be :)

Afterwards he asked if I wanted to take a nice stroll around the pretty streets all lit up with white twinkling lights. It was a joke though as it was FREEZING outside. I said I'd love to but maybe once the weather is a little bit warmer.

I had bought a nice dessert earlier in the day to share at home but once we arrived we were just so tired we went to bed. So we passed out with our two little furbabies and called it a night. I loved it.

Something big did happen at dinner though. BF said something out of the blue that brought tears to my eyes. No, it wasn't a marriage proposal. I'm not sure if I'm ready to discuss it here on the blog though. I'm kind of still processing it all. Sorry to be vague. I think I just need to spend some time sorting out my thoughts and feelings about it first. It's nothing negative. Just.. surprising.

Anyways.. we were planning to go Ottawa for the weekend but then BF was offered a ticket to join in with a few other guys to see a Habs game. Well.. I decided he must go. I mean the opportunity does not come around a lot and I knew how much it would mean to him. So I told him we'd put off the weekend trip until the first weekend of March. That way we can plan things out a little better.

So... any suggestions for what's good to do in Ottawa?

Sinus Infection

I'm home sick from school today. It really sucks cuz Fridays are the best day at school. So I'm on the couch catching up on all the happenings of my internet life. I could do without the pain from the sinus problems though. I have a pretty good idea of why it happened.

There are a LOT of smokers here. It's pretty gross. You can't go anywhere without running into people smoking. When I leave school I have to walk through what feels like a tunnel of smokers. There is literally about 40-50 people that smoke in that parking lot. I try to hold my breath but it's pretty far. People also break the rules and smoke just inside the double doors in the mall. That is where I wait for BF to pick me up every day. The smell is so bad it hits you 50 feet from the doors. Just walking through it as a nonsmoker you'd get a head rush. I try to stand back from that area and watch for him. Sometimes I go outside but it's freezing. Brr

I'm very allergic to cigarette smoke. If I'm around a smoker I will get immediate sinus problems. It really sucks. It turns out the woman I am supposed to share a locker with is a smoker. I can't keep my stuff in there because it smells awful. I asked to switch but the lockers are all taken. Between the smokers, the freezing cold temperatures and my super sensitive sinuses I think this is going to be a hard winter/spring for me.

When I had my wisdom teeth removed I was warned it could make my sinus issues worse. I don't think that it has. I think it's just the environmental issues. I'm thinking of emailing a letter to the administration of the mall regarding that doorway. It's kind of in a far off spot so I think that's why it's kind of like a hang out for teenagers. Until the new Target store goes in I think it will stay that way. Maybe if I send them a note they'll look into it. Who wants to chain smoke in a mall entrance anyways?

So that is my whiny sick post. Feel bad for me :( lol

So Tired

I sincerely apologize for my absence. I'm having a hard time adjusting to my new schedule. I used to stay up until 4am and sleep until noon. Now that I'm in school my sleeping patterns are adjusting and I'm still feeling exhausted all the time. I'm just starting my third week so I hope it kicks in soon. At least getting up in the morning is starting to not be so bad.

Here is my typical schedule now:

Wake up at 6am
Leave for school 7am
Arrive at school 8am
Wait one hour for school to start at 9am
School finishes at 3pm
Wait two hours for BF to finish work and pick me up at 5:15pm
Arrive at home at approximately 6:15pm
Prepare dinner, tidy up, prepare lunch.. feel like a zombie
Sleep

12 hour day but only 6 hours at school. 3 hours are spent waiting around because BF works 8am-5pm. 2 hours are commuting to and from school. Ugh.

Not really fun. There are a few exceptions. Tuesdays we leave at 6:20 so we can meet BF's cousins for breakfast at a restaurant before work/school. A tradition of theirs I'm now included in because I commute with BF. Everyone speaks French. I eat silently. Joy. Fridays BF gets off at 3pm so he can pick me up right away and I don't have to wait 2 hours. Woot Woot!

I'm hoping soon I'll figure this all out and become productive in some way. Stay tuned :)

Life Gets Crazy Sometimes

Hey my beautiful bloggy friends! I haven't forgot about you. This week was just more horrific "exciting" than I expected. I'll be back tomorrow to summarize for you. :)

First Day at School

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I'm feeling pretty nervous.
Where do I go?
What if people don't like me?
How I am going to survive 6 hours of French a day?
Is there going to be a microwave? I like hot lunches.

To be continued.............

I Have A New Business Name I Adore

I am the kind of person that when something is bothering me I have to fix it RIGHT NOW. I spent the whole day fretting. I had spent over 10 years with my previous business name. It was like a part of me. I like everything in perfect order so to find out I couldn't use my name of choice was heartbreaking.

I started to really think about it. Did I really love my name and logo THAT much? Could I find a name I liked better. Something more fresh? More me? That's when I started considering going with another name. Every other time I'd tried to come up with names it took months of thinking and hum hawing.

So I turned to my sister. We worked together, picked something suitable out but it was taken also. Dagnabbit! I was feeling hopeless all day. Jotting down names. Harassing my brother, sister and dear friend Nathaniel about how horrible the Etsy name game was. Just overall miserable.

Then a name hit me. BOOM. I loved it. Now some people were advising me to go with something descriptive and that let people know what I'm doing. For example : Ashley's Accessories. While that is perfectly fine I felt that if I was going to shake things up I really wanted to give it some sauce.

I searched my new name and didn't find a single thing linked to it. After a full day of searching this was a first. I needed somebody to give me the push. That little bit of confidence that I was headed the right way. So I'm pm'd Laura because I knew she'd understand me. She instantly gave me the exact response I needed.

I clicked onto the Etsy site.. inputted the name and it was mine. Hallelujah!

I happy danced all over the place. I found a name that I truly adore. It's fun, funky and best of all it's mine.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have found it. I feel like this was all meant to happen and now I'm super excited. Crap day turned into pure AWESOMENESS!!

Thanks again Laura!!

I can't announce the name yet though. Now that I have it I'm going to scurry around like a nut crazed squirrel securing everything I can under that name. Woohoo!

Etsy Heartbreak

So my business name is taken on Etsy. It's one I had registered 10 years ago and is still under my name in BC. I have logo's and everything prepared under that name that include the initials as the overall design. I had done searches on Etsy for it but nothing came up. Today I went to set up shop and it said the name was taken. I did a google search and there it was. A graphic design company is using it on Etsy. I am so sad. I feel like I'm in mourning.
I'm totally distraught. I talked it over with my sister who has also had many businesses in the past and has gone through similar experiences. She basically told me it sucks but I have to embrace it and move on. I tried shortening the name.. adding an "s"... Etsy says no.
Boourns... what do I do? It's so personal to me. Ugh

Fun Mail - Book Hooks

picture from Etsy listing

I just love when I get fun stuff in the mail. I ordered these "book hooks" from Etsy a week ago and they are already here. When I walked down to the mail boxes I was so excited to see them waiting for me.

Oh the possibilities!!! I can't wait to add my own zest to them.

I already tried testing one out in the book I'm currently reading. It's perfect! I've had others that were too heavy or to awkward to fit correctly and would just fall out all the time. I'm going to bring one along on my errands today and see how it holds up. I just hate loosing my place when I'm reading. Lately I've been using a Halls wrapper, lol.

So this is another product I'll be offering in my store. Once I have a couple done I'll sneak peak one here. I've already sourced some at a cheaper price online now that I've decided I love them.

I'm excited to try something new. The other day I did about 17 pairs of earrings. It's nice to switch things up.

The Source Of My Irritation

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but something very sad happened about a month ago. The senior woman above us passed away. :( She was a sweet old lady who loved seeing my kitties outside. I would always hear her talking to them outside when she thought I couldn't hear her. Of course it was in French so I didn't understand but BF always assured me it was adorable conversation. I would always see her popping out on errands with her cute grin always on display.

Her passing wasn't just sad, it was heartbreaking. It turns out that she had some debts so her family couldn't afford to lay claim to her estate. They were permitted to come and remove a few personal possessions but the majority of her things and her vehicle are being held for auction to pay debts. Horrible right? Well guess who had to take care of all these things? BF's parents who own the building. They had to wait until the end of December and then pack and store everything for the government. Yeesh.

Since they were leaving for a 3 month stay in the US at the beginning of January they had to find a tenant quickly or leave the apartment empty until they got back. This building has 4 units and the one that was hers is located between us. BF's parents above and us below. They promised they were advertising for a non-smoking retired person or mature couple with no pets.

Welp... that didn't happen. There is now a woman with 2 kids and declawed (ugh) cat above us. It has been HORRIBLE!!! This woman sounds like she is wearing wooden clogs as she bangs around. The noise from the kids running around is constant. It's so bad that when we were at the inlaws the noise was almost as bad and they are ABOVE her. They promised to call her when they arrived at their destination and let her know it was beyond excessive. I've had horrible headaches and it's made us both irritable at times.

Something funny happened though.. I think she must have joint custody though because the last 2 or 3 days the kids have not been around. So we've only been dealing with the noise of the woman herself. It's made me really miss the sweet senior woman who lived there before.

So this has had BF and I talking more seriously about our living situation. More about our plan later....

Setting Goals For My Small Business

So I'm just over 3 months away from launching my Etsy shop. Thank you for your awesome comments lately on all my little creations. It definitely helps me feel more confident that I am on the right path. I'm slowly coming to realization that I'm finally really going to make a go at having my own business. I've wanted this for so long and am excited for what the future holds.

I've been preparing my work space, ordering supplies, and trying to get feedback on a few things. So far things seem to be working out pretty good for me. I would like to set up a space in our bedroom away from the playful kitties where I can work without distraction and fear of little paws batting at my projects.

I had originally thought I would open on Facebook at first. Gain some fans and then move on to Etsy. Then I realized that's not the path I want to take. I've been observing other people and it seems its hard to get their customers to make the move with them. I see how much work it is for them to be offering their products for sale on FB. I like the more streamline approach to Etsy. Yes, there are fees but the customers are more serious about purchasing and all transactions are tracked and stored for you. It will take a weight off my shoulders having that info available to me at all times.

I have been reading up on Etsy strategies and success stories. Trying to figure out how everything works so I can give it a good go right from the start. I've already learned so much from reading about other peoples experiences. I enjoy the community feel of the website. I remember my brother recommending Etsy to me as a selling tool probably 8 years or so ago but I never grabbed the reins and went for it.

With my dream soon becoming a reality it's time to sit down and write out goals. I need to keep focused on what I want to achieve with my business. I need to sort out how I want to attract and keep customers. I have to decide on what products I'm going to release at the launch and what I plan to add in to the mix down the road to keep things interesting for both my customers and myself. I have to figure out what creates a great customer experience. I need a timeline for my goals and a plan for how I'm going to do this around going to school full time starting next Monday.

There is just so much rattling around in my mind right now. It's hard to put it all into one post. That's why I've decided I need to sit down and write things out. I will make lists of things that I need to have ready before the launch. I will write out short and long term goals for my business. I will do all these things with a smile on my face because this is what I have wanted for so long. Intimidating but thrilling at the same time.

Any thoughts or advice you would like to offer?