30 Days of Me: Day 28 - This year, in great detail

Oh this past year... gotta admit, 2010 has been quite a bit better than 2009!

Let's see, this time last year I had just recently started selling Mary Kay and I was also working seasonally at Sears Essential as a cashier to pick up some cash.

Christmas went the same as it always has with family. We went out to Freeport and spent New Years Eve with hubby's brothers and some family friends of theirs. We were going to spend the night but I just couldn't get to sleep and so hubby and I drove back home in the middle of the night to spend the night in our own bed.

Mary Kay started out well, but after the first of the year, it slowed down A LOT and I was getting a bit frustrated. I did go to my first ever ice hockey game, as my unit and our families went to the Pink in the Rink game where some of the proceeds went to help fight breast cancer. I also went to a Mary Kay conference with my unit up in Madison for a weekend, which was pretty neat and a lot of fun and gave me a boost of confidence to put more of an effort into it, however after a month of hardcore trying with no results and my leads exhausted, I realized it maybe wasn't for me and by summer I had sold off most of my remaining inventory and sold the rest back to the company. It was fun while it lasted, but I just wasn't getting out as much as I was hoping. I do love the products though and will probably continue to keep using them.

I had my first experience with Jury Duty in February. I waited around all morning in a room with like 200 other people, then I got called to the courtroom with 40 others and was one of the first to be selected for the jury. After lunch they finished the jury selection and started on the case when I realized while listening to the first witness that the defendant was involved in a sexual abuse and custody case that my good friend's relatives are involved in. I mentioned it to the bailiff when they dismissed us and he had me come in the next morning to state when I knew regarding the defendant to the judge and case workers. They ended up letting me leave and go home, feeling that my prior knowledge of the other case would taint my opinion of the defendant in this case.

Also in February, hubby got a second job with the Verizon retailer that his brothers also work for and he started doing that during the day as he was getting bored and antsy at home. They had him working fulltime hours for meager commission pay at a not-so-good location, so after getting a paycheck for $3 he decided to quit as it wasn't worth it. The next day they called and offered him a salaried assistant manager position at their main location in town, so he gladly took that. In a matter of months he ended up becoming the actual store manager there. He works a lot, but as he put it tonight, although he complains about working all the time, if he wasn't working he'd be bored at home like I am.

At the end of May, I gave in and got my first smartphone after playing around with hubby's new Droid he got a month or so prior. I was skeptical at first, as I didn't see the point, but now having had one, I can't see ever going back to a phone that isn't one! My phone can do sooooo much! Sure, I can text and make calls, but I can surf the internet, watch videos, blog on it, read other blogs as well as full books, update and keep up with Facebook and Twitter (zomg, Twitter makes so much more sense to me now) at the press of a button, use it as a GPS or a music player, play fun games and do soooooo much more with it as there's tons and tons of apps! I love my Droid! And it's so customizable too - there's like 7 or 8 Droids in my family now and no 2 look the same as we have ours customized to our own personal preferences and looks.

It also came in handy when our computer's power source died and we were pretty much without a computer for a few weeks! Thanks to our Droids, we were still able to keep in touch with stuff online.

Around Easter, working the Verizon kiosk out at the mall, hubby got bit by the baby bug, seeing all the cute little kids out there with their parents shopping for Easter clothes and visiting the Easter bunny. We decided I'd finish the pack of birth control pills I was on and then not get the next pack. We figured it would take a couple months - at least til summer - to get the hormones out of my system, but we ended up conceiving at the very end of May and announced it to our families on Father's Day a week after we found out. Our first doctor's appointment wasn't until the end of July at 10 weeks though and it seemed like FOREVER. Now, 6 months in, it seems like February 20th is quickly creeping up on us, as the holidays are going to make November and December fly by!

The rest of the summer was pretty uneventful.

October was our big vacation for the year - going to Dallas to visit my old college roomie and see a Cowboys game. It was a nice, fun relaxing trip...

...until we hit the buck on the drive home. So I guess that's one thing that happened in 2009 that also happened this year - getting in a pretty expensive car accident! In February 2009, we got hit going through an intersection when this teenager ran his red light, totaling hubby's car. We ended up getting the car he has now, which is the one that we hit the buck in and came close to being totaled! Hopefully next year we won't have another car accident (*crosses fingers*).

Anyways, that next week back I got my hours cut again at work AGAIN as there's no business going on at all. I got a seasonal job for now, but I still feel kinda bummed as I haven't gotten too many hours there yet and I feel bad that hubby's pulling most of the weight financially right now, but I just don't know what more I can do to make my work situation better - I feel a bit helpless, as it's not like it's my fault the economy sucks. Hopefully once I get a few more shifts in at my seasonal job they'll see I'm a good worker and put me on for more hours than they have been (I hope).

So yeah... that's been this past year thus far for us.

My current dilemma - suggestions?

So, I have a bit of a dilemma.

Last week, I got the check from Mary Kay HQ for the remaining inventory I had that I returned. Now it's just slightly short of how much is left on the MK Visa I opened, but it covers a good chunk of how much I have left on it.

Also, last week I just added about $230 onto it when we purchased our tickets to a Cowboys game when we visit Dallas this fall, as we learned they went on sale a few weeks earlier than we thought and wanted to buy em early because 1) the game we're going to is against the main Cowboy's rivals the Giants, and it's a Monday Night nation-wide televised game so it's likely to sellout and 2) if we waited and it did sell out, we'd have to pay a lot more for tickets than we did and aside from hanging out with Jeny for a few days, going to the game is kinda one of the main highlights of our trip down there. Anyways, hubby has always said we'd have the money to cover the tickets (which we ended up paying about $15-20 more each as we had to get em via Stub Hub) at the end of this month, so that's no biggie as I can pay off the tickets when I make my next payment on the card in a few weeks.

So, my original plan was to just take the check I got from MK and put it all in my account and pay off as much as I could of the card, and then pay the rest off within the next month or so.

Well, hubby has now asked several times if I would be interested in taking the check I got and buying myself a new laptop with it.

I know I've mentioned before, I have an older Mac Powerbook (just over 6 years old now) that I've been able to upgrade from the Leopard OS to the Tiger OS, but I'm still like 2 OS's behind now (I think). I also spent $300 on it like 2 years ago to replace the keyboard, as playing too much WoW for several years straight kinda wore out some of the keys (the Apple store guy noticed the WoW icon on my desktop when he looked at it, asked if I played a lot and was like "yep, that's probably what did it... I've gone through several keyboards myself!"). It still works pretty good though, however for gaming, it's a little slow as it is old and like I've mentioned before, the internal part that the power cord plugs into is on the verge of death - unless it's positioned a certain way, half the time it won't read the power cord and charge.

So hubby and I were talking in the past several times about getting me something decent like a Dell laptop or something for $500 or less that I could use for gaming so we could both play at the same time (the past 9 months or so I've been using his Desktop when he's not on it).

So, what should I do?

Pay the card down like I originally intended or buy myself a new laptop?

The thing is, the laptop isn't something I need right now - it's more like something I might need closer to winter when the Cataclysm expansion for WoW comes out. Right now hubby works enough that I have plenty time to play without him around wanting to use the computer too (kinda why I wanted to reactive my WoW account, as I was getting kinda bored around here during the day and sometimes at night).

Also, the card isn't really hurting my credit any at this point either - they just upped my credit limit to like $2000, and my balance is definitely under half that, which the bank told us that if your balance on a loan or credit card is less than half the credit limit then you have nothing to worry about, as it then counts as revolving credit (so long as you've made all your payments) which actually helps build your credit score up. I'm just tired of paying it off all the time - it was partly why I quit MK, as I felt like all I was doing was paying this stuff off and ordering more rather than actually making any money.

Thoughts?

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Random Musings of the Day

To those that watched this week's episode of Glee - what did you think of the Gaga episode? Honestly, I don't think "Poker Face" was the best song for that tough moment between Lea Michelle's and Idina Menzel's characters:

"Mom who-gave-me-up-and-then-wanted-me-to-come-find-her-but-now-realizes-she-doesn't-want-a-teenage-daughter-after-meeting-me, before you walk out of my life again will you sing a song with me?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!"

Yeah... not exactly the best song for the moment.

The only interpretation I can make is that they're saying they're gonna put on poker faces around each other from now, but... the rest of the lyrics don't make any sense or pertain to this goodbye moment. At least their duet last week of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables made sense...

Also, did anyone find it hard to look at Quinn and take her seriously when Puck was singing "Beth" to her? I mean she had those LOOOOONG fake hot pink eyelashes that were more distracting than anything during that scene!

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So the hubby and I have never gotten into Lost.


When it first came out, I recall my ex's mom raving about it, but neither boyfriend at the time nor myself trusted her judgement in shows - she was hooked on Grey's Anatomy which neither of us had any interest in, so we figured we wouldn't be interested in this one either.

By the time some of my friends started talking about how great it was, it was well into the series and I just never got around to getting caught up to watch it.

Sunday, after the Celebrity Apprentice finale was over, we were flipping channels and noticed the last 30 minutes of the Lost finale was on and decided to watch, just to see how this series ended. We knew the basic premise - a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere and the survivors are stuck on a secluded island, will they ever get off it? How will they survive? I'm sure there's more to it, but that's the gist, right?

Anyways, yeah... seeing how it ended, kinda glad to know I was duped for 6 seasons - such a cop-out, lame way to end a show that was as hyped as this one!

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I finally "get" Twitter now.

Until recently, I never really made much use of it aside from keeping in touch with a few friends who don't update their Facebook statuses that often as well as "follow" some celebs and get newsfeed. To me, it just seemed like a mini-Facebook status network.

But then, I got a smartphone and now I'm often "tweeting" but whatever random thing pops in my head while I'm doing whatever, as I got my phone on or near me at any given time.

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Speaking of Twitter - I had my first interaction with a sorta celebrity today.

I've been following Heather Chadwell, of VH1 and Rock of Love fame (she was the season 1 runner-up, with guest appearances on seasons 2 and 3), as I've enjoyed watching on RoL, as well as I Love Money and Rock of Love: Charm School. While I thought she started acting a bit strange towards the end of RoL:CS, I thought it'd be fun to follow her. She's also had minor roles on other TV shows

Anyways, today she posted this:

(*note* VH1sfarrah is Farrah from season 3 of Rock of Love - Rock of Love Bus)

I sometimes reply to things celebs post, but never expect an answer, as they have a bunch of followers and probably don't see or read all of the replies to them, let alone respond. This is what I replied:

 Then, not soon after, I got my first direct message - from Heather!

How cool is that? Someone semi-famous personally responded to me! I'm sure that those of you that use Twitter regularly have had a famous person respond to you at least once - this was a first for me though so I was a bit excited!

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I can't stand George Lopez's monologues on his late night show - he *really* needs to go back to sitcoms.

It's one thing to make a political joke, but to go off on a tirade during your comedy bit is not funny. Same with making fun of people that aren't latino or whatever - Carlos Mencia and Dave Chappelle both know how to do it so it's funny, but George Lopez doesn't - he drops the comedy and goes off on a spiteful, bitter tirade. Just because you have the microphone and a platform doesn't mean you should meanfully go off about things when you're supposed to be funny.

I hate it when I go see a band and one of the opening bands goes off on a political rant in the middle of their set - I've been at shows where those bands get booed until they stop - people pay good money to go to concerts and hear the music and have a good time, not your political stances. Same goes for late-night talk shows - people watch to relax as their night winds down, to get all riled up because the host wants to go off on some rant.

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Speaking of the Arizona Immigration law, I really don't see what the big fuss is about - it was already a law on the national level but it wasn't being enforced so they passed it one at the state level so they could deal with it themselves. Why are we fussing about something that's always been there?

Besides, looking at the way other countries treat illegals, getting deported and sent back to wherever is a pretty light punishment - in other countries, in addition to get deported you have to pay a hefty fine and in some you can be jailed up to like 10 years! Even in Mexico, they charge you with a felony and can put you in jail for up to 2 years just for stepping over the border illegally and if you do it again after they deport you, they jail you for 10 years!

Okay, so some illegals have kids here, who since they were born on US soil makes them legal residents and the illegals are being taken away from their families. Well, yeah, that is sad... but you were here illegally - if it was that important to you, why not start and complete the process to become a legal immigrant like so many others have? Why are you any different from the rest of the immigrants that live here? I'm not saying they deserve to be separate from their kids, but they really should have thought things through and considered the fact that they might get caught and deported some day.

I don't usually like to get too political, as everyone's got their own opinion on the issues, so please don't get offended - it's just my opinion and I really don't see what the big fuss is about this law, it was already a national law, all they did was make it a state law too so the state could enforce it since the gov't wasn't.

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I'm trying the Mary Kay Subtle Tanning Lotion, as my legs - especially below my knees - tend to be pasty white and I never seem to get out enough for them to get some color. It says to apply daily like you would any lotion and in a few days you'll start to see a difference and by the end of the week you'll reach your maximum color. I'll let you guys know how it works!

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So there's a new Karate Kid movie coming out in a few weeks starring Will Smith's son Jaden and Jackie Chan. Granted, I'm not a fan of classic movies being redone - somethings should be left untouched - but this sounds more like a spin off with the same name. Jackie Chan is in the Mr. Miyagi role, but thank God they didn't try to pass him off as him - instead his name is Mr. Han.

Also, in the trailer, Jackie Chan tell's Jaden "I will teach you real Kung-Fu!" Um... this is called the KARATE Kid and not the Kung-Fu Kid, right? Since when does Kung-Fu equal Karate?

I'm so confused...

I'm having a Mary Kay Inventory Blowout Sale!

So the other day I mentioned I was thinking about quitting my Mary Kay business. Well, after talking it over with hubby, we both agreed that perhaps this isn't the best business for me. While I've seen it work wonders in the lives of various women, and I have NOTHING against the company (I love everything it stands for and the principles Mary Kay Ash founded it on) and LOVE the products, I just don't feel, after trying for a little over 6 months, that the whole direct sales business is really for me.

I do plan on continuing to use the products myself though, and fully intend on having a party every so often to get some of the great hostess benefits!

If you are interested in continuing to use and purchase Mary Kay products, I would like to direct you to a few friends and a fellow Mary Kay beauty consultants in my unit, Cherice (who I've known for a long time, as we both attended the same school for many years, in addition to going to the same church together for as long as I can recall!) and Leah (we connected a bit through our unit's events and I know she's got some big goals and dreams she's aspiring to reach in this business) - either of them would LOVE to help you with all your Mary Kay needs.

Since I am quitting my Mary Kay business, I do have quite a bit of on hand inventory that I am offering for 50% off the retail price (plus 8.25% sales tax). Below is a list of products I still have and will be selling through Monday on a first come, first serve basis, so if there is anything you see on the list that you want, let me know ASAP and I will set it aside, so long as you can pay me by the end of Monday! I can take credit cards over the internet, so if you're interested contact me and we can go over the total first. For those not in the Northern Illinois region (within an hour or so of Rockford), I can ship to you, however I will be charging an additional $4 to help with shipping costs. All orders of $40 or more (before tax) will receive a free gift!
 

Timewise Products

1 Timewise Miracle Set (Dry/Normal) - $45
1 Timewise Miracle Set (Combo/Oily) - $45
1 Timewise Miracle Trial Set (Dry/Normal) - $22
1 Timewise Miracle Trial Set (Combo/Oily) - $22
1 Timewise Replenishing Serum +C - $27.50
2 Timewise Firming Eye Cream - $15 each
1 Timewise Targeted Action Toning Lotion - $14
1 Timewise Targeted Action Eye Revitalizer - $17.50
1 Timewise Targeted Action Line Reducer - $20
3 Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser Dry/Normal - $9 each
2 Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser Combo/Oily - $9 each
2 Timewise Age-Fighting Moisturizer Dry/Normal - $11 each
2 Timewise Age-Fighting Moisturizer Combo/Oily - $11 each
1 Timewise Night Solution - $15
1 Timewise Even Complexion Essence - $17.50

Other Skincare Products

2 Oil Free Hydrating Gel - $15 each


Mineral Powder Foundation

• 1 Mineral Powder Foundation (Ivory 1) - $9
• 1 Mineral Powder Foundation (Ivory 2) - $9

Concealers

• 1 Concealer (Ivory) - $5
  2 Concealer (Beige) - $5 each
  2 Concealer (Yellow) - $5 each

Medium Coverage Foundations:

• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 100 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 104 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 200 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 204 - $7.50
• 3 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 300 - $7.50 each
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 304 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 400 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 404 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 500 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 607 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 708 - $7.50

Cheeks

3 Mineral Bronzing Powder (Sandstone) - $6 each
2 Mineral Highlighting Powder (Pink Porcelain) - $6 each
1 Mineral Cheek Color (Sunny Spice) - $5
1 Mineral Cheek Color (Pink Petals) - $5

Eye Products

2 Ultimate Mascara (Black) - $7.50 each
1 Waterproof Mascara (Black) - $5
1 Lash Lengthening Mascara (Black Brown) - $5
1 Eyescicles (Island Bronze) - $5
1 Eye Primer - $5
1 Eyeliner (Black) - $5 each
2 Eyeliner (Deep Brown) - $5 each

Mineral Eye Colors

• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Amber Blaze - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Blue Metal - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Chocolate Kiss - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Cinnabar - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Dusty Lilac - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Espresso - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Granite - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Hazelnut - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Ivy Garden - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Lemongrass - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Navy - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Precious Pink - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Raisin - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Silky Caramel - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Spun Silk - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Steel - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Cream - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Plum - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Pink - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Vintage Gold - $3.25

Lips

1 Satin Lips Set - $9
1 Crème Lipstick (Whipped Berries) - $6.50
1 Crème Lipstick (Frosted Rose) - $6.50
1 Crème Lipstick (Raisinberry) - $6.50
1 Lip Liner (Neutral) - $5
1 Lip Liner (Dusty Rose) - $5
1 Lip Liner (Chocolate) - $5
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Blush) - $6.50
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Natural) - $6.50
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Rose) - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Bronze Bliss - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Melon Sorbet - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Gold Rush - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Pink Diamonds - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Sugarberry - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Sweet Raisin - $6.50

Lotions

1 Body Lotion – Warm Amber - $7.50
1 Body Lotion – Simply Cotton - $7.50
1 Body Lotion – Honeysuckle - $7.50

Fragrances

1 Journey Eau de Parfum - $18
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Warm Amber - $12.50
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Simply Cotton - $12.50
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Honeysuckle - $12.50

Extras

4 Mineral Foundation Brush - $5 each
1 Applicators (Cosmetic Sponges 2pk) - $1.25
1 Applicators (Eye Applicators 2pk) - $1.25
2 Applicators (Compact Powder Brush) - $2 each
1 Brush Collection - $24
1 Compact Pro (unfilled) - $17.50

Limited Edition Items

1 Lip Nectar Coconut - $7.50
1 Loose Eyeshadow – Pink Organza - $7
1 Loose Eyeshadow – Cashmere - $7
1 Romantic Notions Set – Soft Sable - $15
1 Peppermint Cream Lotion and Shower Gel set - $7.50

What a weekend!

This past weekend I went to my first Mary Kay company event - Career Conference - which took place at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center located right on Lake Monona in Madison, WI.

What's really neat about the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center is that it was built by architect Frank Lloyd Wright! Myself and another member of my MK unit, who's also a graphic artist, had a blast walking around the convention center and viewing everything! Even the gift shop had replicated pieces of Frank Lloyd Wright's various works for sale - it was pretty neat!

Anyways, below is one of the new Mary Kay commercials that they premiered to us at Career Conference - it's actually pretty cute and funny! I also think it's pretty clever, as all the things the women ask, we offer!

Career Conference was really fun though, but exhausting!

The first day/night there, we picked up our registration packet and goodies (including 5 full size new items we're offering this quarter!), some of us got ribbons to attach to our conference badges (which reminded me of the badges we wore at ACEN when we went) - I got 1 ribbon for it being my first year in Mary Kay; some ladies had a huge long thing of ribbons attached to theirs - the most I counted was 12! After registration, a few of us, who didn't have anything scheduled for the afternoon, walked around before heading over to The Great Dane Pub and Brewry to reserve a table for our group (there was almost 20 of us, from our 3 unit group). If you're in downtown Madison near Capitol Square, I recommend checking out this place! The food was really good and at an affordable price too! We didn't have any drinks, since it was a business conference, but I imagine some of their brews would probably be good if you like beer.

After dinner, we walked the 2 blocks back to the conference center and the sat in the opening ceremony for the evening before heading back to our hotel - there was a lot of recognition! They also gave away a lot of prizes too - bags, jewelry, a free registration to Seminar this July in Dallas, scrape booking sets, and other fun things! Also, they prayed before the sessions, which was really neat to see, as Mary Kay was a Christian, and the company is founded on the Golden Rule with the structure of God first, family second, career third. It was really neat to see that put in action! They also showed some inspiration video footage of Mary Kay Ash speaking at various seminars during her time - it was really neat! She seems like she would have been a really neat older lady to sit and chat with, kinda like my grandma on my dad's side! Unfortunately though, she died in 2001 - only a small handful of women at the conference remained standing when they asked how many of us there had met her.

We went back to the hotel for the night, trying to find the N. Iowa vs Michigan game on the radio, as my director is an alumni of N. Iowa and was freaking out that they had made it that far. When we got back, she watched the end of the game in our hotel room (which was AWESOME by the way! It was a suite, with a stove, dishwasher and fireplace - it had better appliances than my apartment and was only slightly smaller! and we got a great deal - $55/room, $13.50/person!). It was pretty amusing watching a 7 mo. preggo lady jumping around, getting all into a basketball game on TV! After the game, my unit had a PJ party with one of the other units we came with and we had a little birthday party at midnight, as one of our girls was turning 30!

The next morning, we woke up at 630 and we were down at the continental breakfast by 730 so we could leave the hotel by 8. We had morning classes at 830 and then a morning session at 1030, followed by lunch and the closing ceremony.

Some of the stories these women shared... WOW! One woman, Hollie Sherrick, her story really surprised me that it hit close to home. She shared that when she first started Mary Kay she was a single mom and $50k in debt. She really felt she had nothing left to lose. After getting out of debt though, her credit still wasn't high enough to get a home loan and she had to work and wait for it - getting a home of her own was a dream of hers, much like it is for me and hubby, although, like Hollie, we're in the same spot she was in (hubby's credit still too low according to the bank). She did get approved though, and for so much more than she was expecting and was able to get her dream home! Her and her unit were also recognized at the conference as #1 in production too! I figure, if she can get that much out of debt and become the #1 unit in production in our conference area, then why can't I do this? I'm in a lot better circumstances than she was, there's no reason I can't. As nice as it is that I only work 2 days a week and make a "decent" paycheck considering how little I work, after the first 2 months, I have been BORED out of my mind. There's no reason why I can't do this better when I have plenty of time to myself - especially since hubby got a 2nd job and I'm home alone so much these days.

So overall, this weekend was a big boost to my confidence that I CAN do this.

They left us with several challenges, which I am working on. One of my goals for this year that I posted back in January was to get my Red Jacket by Christmas. Well, I'd rather earn enough that I can afford to go to Seminar and wear my Red Jacket there.

I also decided I *want* to go to Seminar now. Originally, once I learned of the cost, I figured, forget it, I won't be able to afford it and we're going to Dallas in October anyway on vacation... but after this weekend, I want to go. Plus, 1 night we get to wear prom dresses and ball gowns too - how fun is that?? I love getting all dressed up like that! And it's all good, I'll be in the conference center pretty much the whole time so it won't be like I'm exploring the city without hubby - we can do that for our trip in October. My director said that if we just start saving a little bit from each party we do between now and then, we should be good to go once July comes.

Also, the girl in my unit who I mentioned earlier that also does graphic design work, her and I really got to bond this weekend which was really neat! I needed something like that - ever since I moved back to my hometown almost 2 summers ago, I haven't really felt connected with anyone my age. I have a few friends from high school I still occasionally meet up with and talk to online and on the phone sometimes, but they're busy with their kids a lot too as well as work. Now this girl, she's a single mom too, taking online classes, but she makes an effort each week to be there at our meetings and we have art and video games in common too. So it was just nice getting to bond with someone close to my age, that's female and lives nearby.

So a lot of good things came out of this weekend and I'm really glad I went!

Pink in the Rink 2010

So last night's post about hockey reminded me, I forgot to share about my first ever hockey game!

My hometown has had a hockey team for a little over a decade now (The Rockford Icehogs) and I had never ever been to a hockey game before in my life - I told hubby a little over a year ago I would really like to go see a hockey game someday. I know a handful of people that go regularly to the games in town and they all make it sound like a fun time.

In January, I got an email from one of the heads at Mary Kay about an upcoming event in my area - the first annual Pink in the Rink Icehogs Hockey game where a portion of the ticket proceeds will go to help fight breast cancer. I mentioned the email at my unit's weekly get together and we all decided it would be fun to get our tickets together and sit as a group with our families and friends that wanted to go as well.

So at the end of January, there I was, at my first ever hockey game - I was excited!

A lot of the crowd (my group included) was wearing pink, the ice was dyed pink (this was the first time it was ever dyed!) and the players were wearing pink laces - a few of them, as we saw on the screens in the center of the of the arena, even dyed their hair pink! The Fire and Ice girls (aka cheerleaders) were all wearing pink wings and attire as well and the first 1000 women got Pink in the Rink t-shirts (although the size large honestly looked like a kid's large!).

We saw a really neat fight in the first 1/3 of the game - it honestly lasted a good minute or so before the ref's got involved. There were 2 other fights later in the game, but the ref's broke those up really fast! We won 3-2 (they were playing the Peoria Rivermen, and my Mary Kay director and her husband grew up in Peoria, so it was extra fun for them!)

I had a really fun time and wouldn't mind going to another game someday! And I can cross this off my ultimate list of things I want to do =)

If you've never been to a hockey game before, it's something I really recommend you experience at least once in your life so you can say you've been.

Working for the Weekend

This week, a blog I recently found on 20sb and started following - Life After College - made a fun post sharing her resume of work over the years. I thought this would be a fun idea for a post and decided to share my experiences.

Job 1 - Mowing Grass

My first job, at the age of like 10, was mowing grass for our neighbors. Next door to us, lived a woman in her late 20s/early 30s who worked A LOT and didn't really have the time to cut her own grass. Seeing me mow ours every weekend in the summer, she approached my dad about paying me to mow her grass too. I would also occasionally mow the grass for the neighbors on the otherside of this neighbor when they went out of town, as they were an older couple. One thing I hated about their yard though was they had some sort of plant that just made my allergies go nuts! My first summer of mowing grass I had saved up enough money to get myself a portable CD player with a fanny case and accessories - I was so proud! I also have fond memories making up stories and fantasies in my head while I mowed, to pass the time and I had a special old pair of sneakers and cut off knee-length jeans I would wear with an old t-shirt while I mowed.

Job 2 - Babysitting

In Junior High and early High School I babysat. I babysat for mom and my aunt, several neighbors near our house, as well as a few families down the street. Occasionally someone from church would ask me to babysit and mom and dad would drop me off at their house. It was a typical part time job, some of which I would regularly babysit for (there was one family in the summer where I would watch their kids during the day 3 days a week for most of the summer) although I preferred babysitting kids who were potty trained - I hated changing diapers!

Job 3 - Market Researcher

I got my first "real" job towards the end of my junior year of high school, working for a market research place in town. I got to wear a little headset and sit in a small cubicle with a computer that would randomly dial consumers and I would try to persuade them to take a survey for market research purposes, reading off a script on the computer and inputting their responses.

We were divided into several different teams, each having a different supervisor and area to sit in, and each week, each team was given a different set of surveys to work on. Some of them changed from week to week, others were longterm surveys, such as one regarding types of gasoline companies. Some other memorable ones were regarding baby food (I had a man snap at me and threaten to press harassment charges as he was a 40 year old gay man who had no interest in baby products and this was the 3rd time this week someone was asking him about them), one about juices, another on rice bowls and microwave dinners, an awkward one about underwear, one about cough drops, one about financial companies, and another one about candy. The funny thing about the candy one was that it was for some obscure type of candy, so normally the survey was about 5 minutes long, however if they said the one obscure candy, it turned into a 30 minute survey.

I also SWEAR I interviewed Gavin Rossdale for one them, as the man was about the same age, had the accent same accent, and mentioned he was a singer in a pretty well known band, plus he was in California at the time and was shocked I had called his number. I also interviewed a guy that my supervisor thought sounded kind of like Hank Hill from King of the Hill. Another funny occurrence was when another fellow young co-worker was working on a survey and got a horny female on the line who kept trying to have phone sex with him - she kept asking him what he was wearing, what he was wearing underneath and all these awkward questions, lol... it was pretty funny!

For a first job, it wasn't bad. I normally worked from 4-9pm on the weekdays and 10am-4pm on Saturdays and the pay was  high too for the time - $6.50/hr weekdays, $7.50/hr weekends - back then minimum wage was just a little over $5/hr. I quit this job near the end of my first semester of senior year, as I had pep band coming up for the winter and soccer in the spring.

Job 4 - Apartment Maintanence Worker

I spent the summer between high school and college working for my aunt, doing random apartment maintenance work on this set of buildings her in-laws owned and her and my uncle managed for them. I worked from about 9:30am-3pm Monday-Thursday mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, vacuuming the stairs and hallways, cleaning the laundry rooms and painting the balconies and window trims. 

Job 5 - Newspaper Designer

When I went off to college I started working as a page designer for my college's newspaper, doing layout and design and creating graphics. I worked here part time for most of my college career (minus the last semester I was there). The job was Sunday through Thursday nights, as we published Monday through Friday, however I only worked 3 days a week; it paid minimum wage  hourly, which was fine for a college job. During my first few summers, where we only published once a week (Tuesdays) during summer school weeks, I was the design editor, which was fun. I also was the design editor for 2 other semesters, one of which I stepped down from after the first month, as I couldn't handle the heavier schedule it required as well as my classes, and the other time I inherited the position as one of the design managers was dismissed from the school early in the semester for grades or financial reasons. Honestly, I much preferred just being a page designer without the added stress of having to deal with the other editors and fit a ton of meetings into my schedule. I was also one of the quickest designers though, often being given the entire special weekly entertainment section (The Weekender) to hammer out, as well as a slew of AP pages that I could hammer out in under 2 hours or so. Having me do all that left room for some of the not so quick designers on our staff to focus solely on their assigned page (such as our campus or city page or the front page) and get creative with it.

Job 6 - Unpaid Graphics Intern

While working at the college newspaper, I spent 2 months of my 2nd summer of college interning at my town's local newspaper, the Rockford Register Star. I was the unpaid graphics intern, along with maybe 4 other interns that were there that summer. Here I created A TON of the locator maps you see in the newspaper, as well as various graphics and they also let me do several of the Life&Style section's cover pages. When they didn't have any design for me to do they'd let me work over in the newsroom, helping proof-read pages. It was an interesting experience.

Job 7 - Movie Theater Employee/Manager

After my 3rd year of college, I decided to get an apartment with a friend and move in shortly after spring semester rather than coming home for the summer. My parents said that was fine, but that I would need to find a job as they didn't want me getting into trouble and being lazy all summer. I went around town towards the end of the semester and filled out a ton of applications. The first one to call me back was the main movie theater in town.

I easily got the job, as my soon-to-be roommate had previously worked there and taken me to a few movies with her and her manager friend in the past year, not to mention the manager I interviewed with was also my 3D design instructor from a year ago and remembered me. I started during during the last week people were on campus and my first weekend there was Star Wars 3 opening weekend. Back then we did employee screenings as well, so I got to see Star Wars 3 early too! I spent most of the summer, when I wasn't taking summer classes during the morning, working at the theater either selling concessions, taking tickets at the ticket stand or cleaning theaters. Usually I worked concessions though, even though I preferred being an usher. I quit shortly after the fall semester started though, as I was offered the position of the design editor again at the newspaper and decided to take it, as the pay was better and it would look good on my resume, but got rehired the next summer, as I needed a job that was more than 1 day a week.

I spent most of that summer work projection and eventually that fall they taught me how to work up in box office. I eventually had to take the semester off school, in which my parents said I would need to have to pay for my own housing and utilities, as we wouldn't be able to afford an extra semester for me to finish school otherwise, so I talked to the head manager and was able to get scheduled 4-5 days a week. During the weekdays they'd have me work box office, while on the weekends I would work projection.

By December, they asked if I'd be interested in a management position, as one of the managers was graduating and had another job lined up. Of course I said yes, interviewed with the district manager, and got the job. I was officially a manager on Christmas Eve but didn't start til right after Christmas. I spent the first 2 months in training with the 2 head managers (one of which I considered t a good friend) before they let me on my own. Because I had gone back to school, they had me working closing shifts most weeknights and various shifts on the weekends, however once I graduated I worked 4 days during the week and Saturdays (eventually I ended up being opening manager on Fridays and Saturdays).

Being an art student, they also let me work most of the promotions corporate told us we had to do - usually this included window painting and making and putting up decorations around the theater and then taking photos of it and putting it together in a presentation binder. We also went digital which was a huge change from working with 35mm film, however I enjoyed doing digital filmwork much more than 35mm filmwork. It was an easy job, I enjoyed working with my co-managers and most of our employees, and aside from the occasional disgruntle patron or projector acting up, there wasn't much to it. It was a routine job that I didn't mind. I had an opening and closing routine that worked great and I had a weekly routine for making sure all the filmwork got done that made it so we weren't scrambling late Thursday or on open Friday to get it done.

 

Job 8 - Advertising Designer

So I wasn't really looking for this job when a former classmate told me he was leaving his design job and he gave my name to his bosses I took it. It was less hours than the theater, but paid roughly the same and was in town (as I had recently moved back to my hometown when my lease was up and was commuting to the theater) so I wouldn't have to commute. Plus, I felt it would be nice to have family off my back about finding a job that utilized my college degree.

At this job, I design furniture sale ads for stores all over the US that appear in various newspapers or get mailed out to peoples houses. I've also gotten to design some sign walker signs as well as a few billboards, in addition to promotional materials for the sales promotion agency I work for, such as brochures, mailer inserts, and ads that appear in national magazines and catalogs. My bosses also have me put together mailings to send out to potential clients, as well as do some personal design projects for them, whether it be designing invitations for a family event or designing equestrian ads for the ranch one of my boss's daughters rides at that appear in national magazines.

Job 9 - Beauty Consultant

When I found out my hours at the design job were getting cut in half due to lack of business, I decided to try and find a second job to help supplement the income I was losing. I thought about selling Lia Sophia jewelry, but had a tough time trying to get started (you have to book your first 5 parties before you can get your kit and debut). Eventually a former classmate from high school introduced me to Mary Kay last fall, hubby looked into it, and I decided to do that, which has helped us quite a bit, as without it we wouldn't have been able to buy Christmas presents for our relatives this past Christmas. I've really enjoyed doing Mary Kay, as I get weekly girl time with the girls in my unit, and there's other fun activities we get together for. It's also a great way to meet other women and make them feel good about themselves, not to mention I LOVE the principles the company is based on and that the Mary Kay Foundation helps to fight breast cancer and domestic violence. They also recently donated $100,000 to the Haiti Relief as well!

Job 10 - Seasonal Cashier

I also got a little bit of working retail experience this past winter too, as I applied online (after seeing an ad on Facebook's Marketplace) for a seasonal position at a local Sears Essentials store. I worked as the seasonal cashier for November and December and did a good job, despite only working 2 days a week. I also did very well at getting credit apps for the Sears cards they offer. I worked the mid-morning shift on Black Friday too, which was quite an experience! They said they enjoyed having me there, but apologized for the lack of hours at the time and told me to come back in March, as they'll be getting the garden center open and will be looking to hire a few more people.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Being a consultant with Mary Kay, I often get to try the products via samples or buying the product with a discount. I figured I would take this opportunity to just share some of my favorite Mary Kay products I've used so far!

Now I was never much of a make-up girl or even a girly girl, but some of this stuff is really neat!

Let's begin with a simple make-up must have: Mineral Foundation!

Now like I said, I was never much of a make-up girl - my first experience with make-up in Junior High involved liquid foundation and it worked TERRIBLE! No matter how much I applied or how I applied it or what I did I could not get rid of the typical make-up line. And being that I was in Junior High, of course kids would point it out and make fun of me. Needless to say, I stopped wearing the stuff after about a month and never wore make-up again aside from the occasional eye-shadow or concealer on zits for big events. It wasn't until about 6 months before my wedding in September 2008 that my mom and mother in law told me about mineral foundation. My mother in law had a spare BareMinerals set that she gave me to try and hey, mineral foundation works pretty well! By the time I ran out I had just started Mary Kay so I promptly made sure to get myself some of this! And I LOVE IT! Unlike liquid foundation, mineral foundation blends with the minerals in your skin to help give you a flawless look - no make-up line! Plus, it goes on quick so you don't need to spend a lot of time putting it on! Mineral foundation is a MUST HAVE for any woman - whether you wear a lot of make-up or just a little, wear make-up everyday or just for big occasions, DON'T BE WITHOUT THIS!

MUST HAVE for your Eyes: Eyesicles

Now this is a neat little product I have never seen anywhere else! Eyesicles works as both a primer and an eye shimmer. It adds just a bit of a light shimmer so that you can wear it without eyeshadow, but this creme to powder eye make-up also works as a primer so you can put other colors on top of it and it'll hold your eyeshadow in place! I often times just wear it for days when I'm going to work and want to look decent but don't feel like spending a lot of time on my make-up because I am just going to work. I'll take just a second, rub some of this stuff on top of my eyes and I'm good to go!

Winter MUST HAVE #1: Oil-Free Hydrating Gel

I LOVE this stuff! Now regardless of what skincare system you use, whether it be the Time-Wise Miracle Set, Proactive, Neutragena, or whatever, a little extra moisturizer in the winter is a must have - especially if your face is normally a little dry! Not only does it leave your skin feeling cool refreshed, but it also helps keep it moisturized for up to 10 hours, and has vitamin E, green tea extract as well as marine extract to keep your face feeling smooth! I've been using this stuff allllllllllll winter and it really has helped keep my face moist, as my skin tends to be dryer in the winter.

Winter MUST HAVE #2: Satin Lips Set

This lip balm and mask set is really neat! First, using your finger, you rub the lip mask all over your lips. It feels a little gritty, as it's a lip scrub that works to get rid of all that dry, dead skin and junk that's on your lips. Then using a wet towel, rub off the lip mask and apply some of the lip balm to help keep your lips nice and soft! 

MUST HAVE for your hands: Satin Hands Pampering Set

My mom LOVES this and about died until she got a set of her own for Christmas. This 3-step set is a really neat way to keep your hands feeling really soft! First, you use just a little bit of the cream and work it all over your hands, between your fingers, etc to help maintain your skin's natural moisture. Then, take 1-2 pumps worth of the hand smoothie scrub and rub that all over your hands and fingers to cleanse and exfoliate! Then rinse your hands off and dry them before applying just a little bit of the hand lotion for instant moisturization. The Satin Hands Pampering Set comes in either a Peach fragrance or a new fragrance-free version that keeps moisture for up to 24 hours! Once you try it, you'll love it!

Convenient MUST HAVE #1: The Mary Kay Compact

I LOVE this and was so excited when I got one! This neat little compact is magnetic, with a nice sized mirror and can be filled a number of different ways: you can use it as a foundation compact, an eyeshadow compact, a full look compact, or even an eyebrow compact! It also holds your applicators and either a lipstick, lipgloss or brow gel. And it's small enough that it fits nicely in your purse! In the one that I use, I have 3 eyeshadows and a blush, as well as a lipstick and my cheek and eye applicators. There's also a slightly bigger version called the Compact Pro which holds 3 times the eye shadows/foundations/blushes/etc, 2 lipglosses/lipsticks/brow gels, as well as a lip liner and an eye liner, in addition to your applicators! And unlike a lot of other compacts, these are magnetic, so they stay shut and your colors stay in place yet you can easily swap them out, so there's less mess!

Convenient MUST HAVE #2: Travel Roll-Up Bag

This bag is really neat and great for storage, organization and travel. It comes with 4 plastic zipper compartments that velcro onto the interior part so you can easily remove each section as needed. It also has a black swivel hook so you can keep it on the back of your bathroom door or a hook so it doesn't take up space elsewhere! And it holds A LOT - for the pampering parties, I have all my foundations and full sized skincare samples in this for easy carrying - it makes traveling a lot easier as everything is altogether in one place.

If you are interested in any of these products and would like to order some, please let me know or visit my site - I can easily hook you up and I ship anywhere in the US!

Avon calling... too many times!

So recently, I decided to become an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay.

I was looking to make a little extra money cuz I figured anything is better than nothing and after looking into it more, I loved the philosophy the company is based on (The Golden Rule and the idea of God first, Family second, Career third). My husband seemed to like that when it came to Mary Kay, it is a consumable, unlike the jewelry I was considering selling, so that would mean I would always have people coming to me for reorders, plus, Mary Kay has a 90% buyback guarentee so if we decided it wasn't working out I could always return what I hadn't used and get 90% of what we paid for it back. I also liked that my unit's weekly meetings and get together was considered girl time too, as at times I get tired of being cooped up in the apartment when I'm not working 2 days a week at my day job.

Now a friend of mine was also considering signing up for Mary Kay after hearing all the benefits and rewards you can reap if you put the effort in, and asked on her Facebook if anyone would buy from her if she sold. Unfortunately, she didn't get a lot of good response and one girl even told her to sell Avon, citing Mary Kay ladies are crazy and pushy - I would beg to differ, just based off my own experiences.

Now true, I have heard stories of sales ladies from various companies who do get a bit pushy and annoying, but the only annoying experience with one I personally have had was with an Avon lady.

I got engaged at the beginning of January 2008 and shortly after I attended a local bridal expo with my mom and mother in law.

Now when you arrive at the expo, they have you fill out and sign a sheet with your phone number and email in order to qualify for any of the drawings they do throughout the expo. Without reading the fine print, I, like all the other soon to be brides, went ahead and filled out the form - who wouldn't want to get put in a drawing to win a free veil or honeymoon to the tropics?

Well, like most of the other soon to be brides, I didn't win any of the handful of drawings they did that afternoon.

A few weeks later, I got a voicemail from a lady who said she was an Avon rep and wanted to get together for a free facial and discuss my makeup for my wedding.

I wasn't interested, as my Matron of Honor did Mary Kay at the time and had already offered to do my makeup for me, so I didn't bother to call this Avon lady back and deleted her voicemail.

Then a week later, she called again and left me another voicemail, similar to the first.

Eventually she reached me one evening as I was driving home from work and was irritated that she was calling me YET AGAIN.

She told me who she was and why she was calling. She asked if I had makeup plans for my wedding yet and I informed her about my Matron of Honor being with Mary Kay and that she was already going to be doing my makeup for me. The lady then offered her free facial to me, but I told her I really didn't have the time and wasn't interested. She said if I changed my mind to please give her a call and I figured that was the end of it.

But it wasn't.

The next thing I knew, I was getting email offers from her EVERY OTHER WEEK. Luckily, I had them sent to an email account I wasn't checking regularly, but still...

I went to this bridal expo almost 2 years ago and it is the only place I can figure where she got my phone number and email address from, as I have never filled out anything for Avon before. TO THIS DAY I am STILL getting emails from this woman. I have NEVER bought anything from her, or from Avon for that matter, and I haven't even spoken to her since that one phone call back in February or March of 2008!!

Talk about annoying!

I finally figured out how to unsubscribe from her emails, as there was no "to unsubcribe from this mailing, click here" link on any of the emails (thank you gmail for implementing a block feature!)

So the lessons learned from this:
-Read the fine print before you sign up for anything at bridal expos (for example) as you never know who they will give your info to and how long that person will harass you for.
-And before you go defending one company over the other, you really can't say one company has crazy pushy ladies while another one is great because there will ALWAYS be someone who had a bad experience with the company you're saying is so great.

Do I think Mary Kay is great?
Sure I do - I wouldn't have signed up for it if I thought otherwise.

Will I tell you that no one is crazy or pushy there?
Well, to be honest, the only consultants I know and have encountered are the ones in my unit and some friends of mine who have sold it in the past. From my experiences, all the women I've met with Mary Kay are really friendly and aren't nearly as overly annoying or pushy as this one Avon lady I encountered was. Those of you that know me know that I'm not very pushy at all! And yet I'm doing just fine with my Mary Kay business.