Branching Out: Applying for a job in retail

We all know how I feel about being a waitress: It pays well, it's what I know, and I am damn good at my job...BUT... (that's a very big BUT right there)

I'm not happy doing it. I have mastered the art of what I like to call "The Cheerleader". To a guest, I am cheery, energetic, conversational, and above all very VERY efficient. I'm a perfectionist and I don't like to fail which pretty much makes me a model employee. In general, I work in turn and burn restaurants and I flip tables like no one's business with consistently higher sales and fewer errors than anyone else. I learn fast and save my stress for later, but saying that this is what I wanted for myself is just a hop, skip, and jump away from saying every little girl dreams of being a hooker. This is not "Pretty Woman", my friends. This is life...like the cereal...

There are a few things I truly love in life: my husband, my dog, nature, and art. I chose to pursue art through fashion and jewelry. In 4 years, I learned a lot- a lot about what I wanted out of life and what made me happiest, as well as picking up several new skillsets on the way. Then I graduated, there were bills to pay, and I forgot all about it. I got married, moved 2 more times after college, and...I started this blog. It became my little niche in the world, a mark in cyberspace if not on the world.

The daily grind kept on grinding, and when it became too much I applied for other jobs in the same field and was offered them. I turned them down partially out of fear of change and partially because I knew "same shit, different place" wasn't going to cut it in the end. As I find myself doing every 6 months or so, I found myself perusing the classifieds again this week, and just for fun, I opened the retail section- because you know, i delight in fashion, jewelry, makeup, and secretly all things girly. One of my favorite stores, Francesca's Collections (a boutique with a unique and fun vintage feel) has a listing for their new location, and...with no retail experience under my belt, I threw caution to the wind and sent in an application.

I opened with a cover letter (something I never do):

"My name is Samantha Elliott, and I have no retail experience. What I do have is a bachelor's degree in fashion design with a minor in art and jewelry and 10 years in the fast paced food and beverage industry where interaction with guests, keeping customers happy, and doing high-volume cash sales on your feet is must- that's 10 years of direct sales experience including upselling and suggestive selling, multitasking, problem-solving, and overall guest satisfaction with cashier experience. In college, I also spent a year in a movie theatre box office doing thousands of dollars in cash sales in hours as well as suggestive selling in a concession stand. I've held several jobs where creating visual displays was a part of my job duties, most notably the weekly lobby displays I was required to create and change as an RA, and the many wedding displays I've done in banquets, in addition to the fashion shows and art displays that were a part of my coursework in college.
I am not currently using my degree professionally, but I do keep a blog where I require myself to make new pieces and use my talents, because art and fashion are where my passions truly lie. As a waitress, I take pride in accessorizing with style and looking as best I can in a uniform. As an individual, I'm especially fond of unique and timeless pieces and a frequent visitor at Francesca's in Park City, Lancaster. Check out my blog: http://xarataproject.blogspot.com/p/xarata-project.html and my website http://xarata.etsy.com, and take a chance on something unique and different that just "works". It's how all the best finds are made."

A little corny, but to the point and different enough to grab some attention. It worked- they emailed me back prompting me for a more user-friendly format for my resume. I sent it to them 2 days ago, and not hearing back have despaired. When I saw that they relisted the job ad, I decided "what the hell? Persistence never hurt anybody". I completely revamped my resume, having sent in separate Fashion and F&B resumes the first time, I took the time to craft a retail resume (you know, with things like "cashier" under past employment in lieu of "Movie Ticketing" and "Waitress" -both which have cashier in the skills line), pasting it in the email, uploading it to skydrive, and making sure it was in .doc format. I also attached the previous cover letter so it doesn't immediately scream re-ap, but shows I took the time to troubleshoot, refine and give it a better go should they read it again.





The Little Details:
The job listing is part time, so I would still have to waitress to pay the bills and going on restriction means destroying the little seniority I've earned for myself. On the upside, I'm on Bob's benefits so changing jobs doesn't affect my insurance or anything. Retail is one of those industries where people seem to climb pretty quickly, and if there came a day where I could leave waitressing, I would be very happy about that. Retail isn't as hard on your hands as serving is, the clothes are nicer, the discounts are better, and when you get bored, there's always stuff to organize (which is so much better than scraping gum out from under tables). Mostly, it would just be a really big change, but probaby a positive one. We drove by the new location and...it actually isn't there yet. There is an empty storefront in the shopping centre though which is probably going to become the new location. In some ways, this could be really good, because it probably means that they're not opening until late summer/early fall which is exactly the time when all of my shifts at the Lodge magically disappear and I start scraping for money and scrounging for hours, while fighting the idea of going on unemployment. It might be scary, but it could be perfect...

Oh, by the way, Bob is up for a promotion at work so cross your crossables! It's actually the same promotion that he didn't get last time that he was supposed to be a shoe-in for and everyone was so shocked and disappointed when he didn't get it. He's spent the last 6 months listening to management complain about the mistakes they made in that last round of promotions and only rarely does he mention that hey, I applied for it, I didn't get it, and I'd rather not hear about the ineptitude of those were apparently my betters. So again he's supposed to be a shoe-in, and it would be a really big raise which would allow us a little more freedom, but neither of us is trying to get our hopes up too terribly high...just crossing our crossables...


So that's just me sharing to anyone in particular what's going on in my life, my little hopes and fears, where I might be headed next. any words of wisdom?

Silver Earpiece and Updates

Did you miss me?!?!?

The bottom of this post has a rundown of the last few weeks, but that really isn't why you read this blog so onward ho! My mom asked me for some stuff for a trip, so today I made an ear piece. I haven't made a whole lot of these in the past and I'm not really sure why, but this one is fun enough:

The loop that comes out the bottom is part of the design, but it's also longer because I know for a fact that my mom's ears are bigger than mine.

And hey, remember that piece that I designed and cut out but never put together? yeah...I put that together today!

And it's an inch and a half short on each side. lol. Obviously there are a couple of tendrils in there that need moved into proper alignment with the piece, but it really does need more on the outer edges and I'm not confident enough to tweak the design tonight. Part of why it is as short as it is was that I was having trouble thinking of more to make it longer. It will fit exactly as I meant it to though which is lovely. For now, I've flattened it back out so I can add to it.

I did miss silver-work. There's something very satifying about watching silver melt and flow the way you want it to, and then fishing the tarnished piece out of the pickle pot all shiny and new looking.

Also a new development. Because weeks like the past few are inevitable, and because I DO go on vacation occassionally, I've decided to stop numbering my posts. If I realize that I'm REALLY slacking, I'll consider revisiting the numbered posts, but as long as I'm putting stuff out pretty regularly, I'm not going to guilt myself about sleeping in or baking cookies or going to a movie instead of making something. This project isn't about guilt, it's about creative freedom. In general, I put out better work when I'm not forcing it, and that's how it should be.




Where have I been?

No secret that I took a couple of weeks off from projects. I was working overtime, 6 days a week usually around 12 hours a day. We served breakfast in my restaurant for 2 weeks, and I had a week of coming in from 7-11:30am, going home and napping til 2pm, taking a shower, going to physical therapy from 4pm-5pm and running upstairs for work from 5pm-1am. Then I'd get back up at 6am the next day and do it all over again. I got one day off a week, about 8 days apart. The last thing I feel like doing on my day off is telling myself I HAVE to do such and such. I did some shopping, some eating, and a lot of sleeping. I also spent lots of time at the park with Honey, and we finally gave her a chance off-leash on the nature trails. She's behaved wonderfully and I'm so proud of her. It was relaxing, I had fun, and I don't regret one second of it.

 I've also been spending a lot of time working on my hands, since a lot of the physical therapy I'm doing can benefit my hands overall and is kind of fun. My favorite therapies are Baoding melody balls (little cloisonne spheres with chimes, they come in an asian box), silly putty, and tendon glides (which i affectionately refer to as sign language). I've also been drinking joint juice (which i prefer over pill-form glucosamine supplements- it's basically kool-aid). I'm also on prednisone to speed up healing. Can't say as I really think it makes a difference, but I can turn doorknobs and wash dishes without being in immense pain so something must be working. (If you're curious, the rundown of my hands is as follows: Carpal Tunnel in both hands, damaged cartilage in my right hand, tendonitis in my left hand, and an overstretched ligament in my left hand that is likely permanent from the way I carry trays- the ligament being stretched just means that it doesn't support my joint the way it ought to, making it easier for me to hurt myself if I don't support it in some other way, so I've been given a brace/support to wear on that hand at work, specifically because I carry trays.)

Also, I'm going to be tattooing my damaged hand for my birthday. In general, I know how most of you feel about tattoos one way or the other, and my general reply is this: I've wanted a tattoo for a really long time, I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to go get one. I've known what I wanted (Honey's pawprint) and where I wanted it(on my hand, the final location will be the most damaged part of my hand- the area between my wrist and thumb/index finger) for over a year. I made a stamp and tested the image for several weeks. Between my secret love of makeup, fairy ear prosthetics, and because the hand is damaged and I'll be wearing a support (be it a brace or kinesio tape) at work for medical reasons for the rest of my life, I'm not concerned about the location of this tattoo interfering with my job/future jobs. So what I want you to know is I really thought about it, I made this decision for myself and no one else, and I'm a grown-ass woman turning 25 and quite frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn ;)

So...I hurt myself again...

So...yeah...I hurt myself again (surprise surprise- i see those eyes rolling!). I was working, and I heard(and felt) a crack in my hand- my left hand (my UNdamaged hand). My thought process was pretty much "oh shit- that can't be good" and I kept working, aware of the pain- a pain very very similar to when I damaged cartilage in my right hand.

The good news:
In theory, I just pulled or overstretched a tendon in my hand, so no cartilage damage and no physical therapy with a fluidometer (we hope). I definitely didn't hurt it as badly as my right hand so recovery time shouild be much shorter.

The bad news:
I have to wear an immobilizer (stupid little hand brace thing that "immobilizes" my thumb and wrist to keep my from using that tendon), which I also had to wear when I hurt my other hand so I wasn't really surprised, but it's not particularly comfortable and it really limits movement which can be frustrating. I'm also kind of bad about following the rules with wearing this (last time, the doctor threatened to put me in a cast if I kept taking it off to use my hand) which can delay healing...I'll try to be good.


What this means:
What it means is a week or two away from wire work and I have made a decision. I have decided to bend the rules. It's hot out and I like making myself little dresses and fun sewn fabric things and telling myself that they don't count as being creative for the week makes me resent my other projects and forces me into working with a media that maybe i'm just not feeling that week-which means i put out half-hearted mediocre things and that's not good. I majored in both metal and fashion, so why hold myself to only one or the other? So from now on fabric is back on the table. And yes, I did make something this week which I'll get around to posting in the next day or two.

Week 9

Fairy wings have a metal frame, and I enjoy making them, so they totally fall into the category of glass or metal. :)

I made these purple wings with a little head circlet for my niece, Lily. Her little sisters are turning 2 this week and will be getting LOTS of presents (I know I bought too many, and I am not their only aunt...), and I figure it never hurts to have your own cool new thing as a toddler.




Other things I did this week:
-fixed Bob's favorite jeans
-Altered a dress that I ordered online a long time ago that I thought would be totally cute, and then it came and looked waaaay too much like a nightgown for public wear. I took the sleeves off and turned it into a halter dress
-Also, more peel-n-stick nail polish!!! This is incoco brand, and I like it better than the Sally Hansen salon effects.

Weeks 7 & 8

Full disclosure: I've been working overtime (feast or famine, eh?) and the time I did have, I spent enjoying the (finally!!!) warm weather. I have a tan, I went to a carnival, spent lots of time outside with the dog, replanted and weeded my gardens, and in general spent last week having a good time. No, I really didn't feel like making anything, so I didn't. I didn't really feel like making anything this week either, but I decided 2 weeks off is a no-no so here we go:

I bought some micro-brushes at Hobby Lobby yesterday so I tested them out on some bowls. I also bought some model car enamel that should be even more permanent than my glass paint, but I haven't tested it yet.

The biggest one is modeled after my wedding invitations.

Random fun: I took off one of my headbands while I was outside this week, and Honey ran across the yard and popped her head through the loop, so I took the extra one that I had and made her another new collar out of it. It's black with white polkadot circles. I didn't take this picture to showcase her collar, but since it was on the camera, I thought I'd share.

(I took the picture because she ran into the room and perched herself on Bob's shoulder while we were watching a movie on the floor. We're pretty sure she was afraid of something, probably random weather patterns, but we both thought this was ridiculously cute)

This isn't really an art project in any way, but I "painted" my nails this week. These are the peel-n-stick salon effects nail strips by Sally Hansen, and they are pretty awesome. This set is "Laced Up", their black lack pattern. I got lots of compliments on these at work.

*If you get curious and purchase these to try yourself, I have some tips from my own trial-and-error. The first thing you should know is that if your nails are a conservative length (an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch) you most likely can use each nail strip twice and get twice as many manicures out of the box (At $10/box, it's kind of expensive for nail polish, but cheap for a fancy manicure). I also primed my nails with a base coat and topped with a top coat. The top coat came after a day at work where i did mildly chip this manicure (they are chipped in the photo). This particular design hides chips really well, and people with a regular job probably won't have chipping as fast as I did, but it doesn't hurt to put a top coat on to protect it.

The Day Job

How I got sucked into the black hole known as the Food & Beverage Industry:
From the intro page, most of you know that I make my living waiting tables...and I don't much like it (to put it mildly)...but I make a pretty decent amount of money doing it ($36k-$40k/year). I have been selling and serving food in some capacity since my first job at a snack stand when I was 15 baking soft pretzels on City Island. Basically, I've been doing this for a decade, and I'm pretty damn good at it. I am what they call "efficient"- I multitask really well, have an excellent memory, problem solve to make my life easier/faster, and have cultivated the perfect faux cheerleader attitude for tables (not you, i don't have it in me to be fake for friends- it just feels wrong- maybe someone else should be your server). To top it off, I do in fact have an IQ, so I understand what's expected of me. No matter how much I might dislike my job, I take pride in doing it well which is why I tend to move up the ranks really fast in this industry (from n00b to dependable).

Truths about me:
-I am opinionated. That's an understatement. I am always looking for ways to make something faster, more streamlined, more practical- and while I will always do what I'm told/play by the rules, I don't have a problem telling you why I think those rules are flawed.
-I cannot stand being condescended to. I am 25 years old, not 5 years old-speak to me like I am a human being deserving of some measure of respect.
-Unless something is funny or I have a reason to shmooze you (be fake with you), my resting facial expression reads as abysmally sad. By which I mean, my expression makes you wonder what has so greatly upset me- death, depression, family troubles? I was once told by a patron (that I was not waiting on) that I looked "Doom & Gloom Miserable", and complete strangers frequently encourage me to "Smile!" I smile at my tables, I laugh when jokes are funny, but "sad" is just how my face is. Both my eyes and my mouth have a naturally downward curve. Smiling all the time hurts my face and causes wrinkles- when you give me happy thoughts, I will smile for you.

The Background:
I work in a sportsbar owned by a very large corporation in a very popular tourist destination. This place is unionized. By unionized, I mean that there is a hierarchy in place here with concepts of seniority and the number of positions in the restaurant is limited (for me to become full time, someone had to quit/get fired). Seniority (or lack of it) dictates how many shifts you get and when you get them, and what tables you get to take. It also allows the stealing and rearranging of shifts so your schedule is never the same. The expression used frequently is "Seniority's a bitch unless you have it" People with seniority have been there for 5, 10, 20, 30 years- decades- and they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I am classified as a full time server- ranking last in seniority among full time servers.

 From the time that I started at this job over a year ago, the other servers were not very friendly- the business as a whole had a personal bias against my last job because they lost a lot of staff when that business opened, and the female servers seemed threatened that I actually knew how to carry a tray and use a computer on my first day. The girls were rude to me from day one, often huddling in little groups to make fun of me while I listened around a corner. While they treat me as an equal now, it's not an experience I think I will ever forget. One of the cooks frequently spoke harshly to me- expletives included- which I'm told he does to every new girl until they go to HR- I waited 3 months. We're good now.

In F&B in general, there are high points in the year (summer and christmas) and low points in the year (winter) which allow for more or less shifts than usual.

The "Issues":
Issue #1: No shifts- We discussed seniority and low points. What this means is that I haven't been consistently scheduled for a full 5-day week of server shifts since september. Oh sure, I scrounge and pick up shifts- often in the middle of my week and frequently working double shifts (15 hour days) after being asked to stay. I even occassionally work shift outside my position (lately food running). Somehow, I usually manage to get 5 shifts on my plate, but it sucks that I have to go about the way that I do.

Issue #2: Other Positions- I am frequently thrown into other positions that aren't my job title, whether I want them or not. At $11/hr, sometimes I will do the easy ones (food running, hostessing), but I have made it clear that I am not a busser and I don't work in banquets and every week I have to get rid of these shifts even though I never asked for them and they aren't my job title.

Issue #3: Failure to Communicate-For the enormous corporate entity that it is, this building communicates really poorly with no one on the same page. On any given day 3 different people will tell you to do the same task 3 different ways and then yell at you for doing it the way another person told you to do it. I find it frustrating and infuriating and grow increasingly angry with the situation every day.

Issue #4: Politics- There is one person (superior) in particular that has made it their mission to make my life difficult. We got along fine for 4 months, and then my sister accepted and then rejected a position in the same building, and he started treating me differently and nitpicking. First it was my smile, then it was my halloween costume (pirate, all skin covered), then it was things he "didn't understand" that came across as blatant attempts to make me look incompetent when I was doing my job incorrectly- calling several managers over to ask why an item was on his bill that was supposed to be on his bill, watching me do my chores in a hurry when i was rushed in the morning because no one was there to help me with the chores, and then picking one to ask the manager questions about how it was supposed to be done and by whom- that sort of thing. Then it progressed to making policy changes in the middle of a shift, not making sure everyone was informed and understood, and then screaming 5 minutes later when we were still doing things the way we always had. Today, my job was foodrunning- a job that requires organizing tickets in the kitchen, traying up orders when they're ready, and delivering them. He decided that because I wear a pager, I don't need to be in the kitchen unless I'm paged and I was no longer allowed to be in the kitchen if there wasn't an order ready to be trayed in the window. The other food runner continued to go in an out of the kitchen at will, but I was not allowed. It's a double standard and it makes me really angry. The strangest part of all this is that the people that i really clash with are not the servers, not my supervisors or managers or (all but one of) the cooks- it's upper management.

Thinking About Change
There are 2 things that I realized today to be utterly true: I am not happy there. I have never been happy there.
 I have been there for a year and a half and I have not made friends, I haven't bonded, I do not feel like a part of their family. I've had personal differences with individuals at other jobs before, but I have always felt welcome at the restaurant, found friendships and family in my coworkers, almost always instantly. I do not have that at this restaurant and after a year and a half, I don't believe that I ever will. From my first day at this restaurant, I felt overwhelmingly unanimously unwelcome by the people there. I am not happy there. I have never happy there. It is time to go somewhere else.

1 Week Interrim

I took 1 week off between year 1 and year 2 to enjoy the new spring weather. It was a week full of long walks, dog parks, and lemonade- and St. Patrick's Day too!!! My house is full of flowers inside and out, and I am so ready for the warm weather to stay. I'm in a much better mood than I have been lately (my body was vitamin d deprived) and ready to come up with new projects!


In case you were wondering...The Spring Open House Application Form for Hunter's Valley Winery came this week, and it's the first weekend in June. The Xarata Project will NOT be participating in the Spring Show. Tourist Season here begins in late May/early June and that's a $1000 weekend for me. Considering I didn't sell much at the last show, I won't be taking off work for it. I might still participate in the Fall which is a slow time for work, but not in June.

Get geared up for new projects! Next week you can expect to see glass!

VACATION!!!

You may have noticed that I didn't do a project last week- now, one could argue that i was being lazy or uninspired or something along those lines...BUT I prefer simply to say that I was on vacation from my regular life and leave it at that. I actually did extra projects this week to keep the Xarata Project in a proper timeline for its anniversary in March, but this post is about VACATION!!!

Bob and I spent a week in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic- Sunshine, sand, blue water and blue sky as far as the eye could see- with a cocktail in one hand and a book in the other. It was lovely.

One of the things I've come to really love about Punta Cana is that the all-inclusives keep photographers on staff and you can get some really lovely photos. The permanent photo on the blog is from our first trip to Punta Cana. Look at that sunkissed skin and warm crystal water- jealous? :)

*This trip was Bob's X-Mas gift to me. It was wonderful.

Happy New Year! resolutions...

Technically, my last post was made at 1am on New Year's Day, but i was dead tired and more concerned about filling my weekly quota than I was about New Year. Normally I don't do resolutions- I feel that if don't trully want to fulfill that goal (or feel capable of fulfilling said goal), then you shouldn't commit to a goal in the first place- resolutions really aren't meant to be failed or cast aside. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Anywho...the point of that mini tirade is that THIS year, I DO in fact have a resolution: -ahem-

 I want a house of my very own,

and my goal is to save $10,000 (the down payment needed to obtain a loan) by the end of October, and hopefully find and buy a house before 2012. I intend to save that money on my own, regardless of what Bob is able to save/contribute (though he intends to begin saving in the spring). This averages out to me saving $1000/month. Winter is a very slow time for a waitress so I won't be able to save as much in the winter, but come May, tourist season begins again and that means $1000+/week for me and my goal. Yes this will mean less eating out, and less buying whatever i want when I want it, but a house is worth it- and i KNOW i can do this. It's important to me. Assuming Bob saves an equal amount or close to it, I intend to use some of that $20,000 for 2 things in our new house: a fence for the dog is very important to both me and Bob, and I will not suffer Honey and ourselves to live in a house without one. Also, Bob and I desperately need a new mattress- we don't sleep well and i don't know WHAT i was thinking when i bought a single-sided mattress that can't be flipped. When we move again, this mattress will NOT be moving with us.

2 Other Little Tiny Resolutions for 2011 (again that i feel I am capable of accomplishing):

-My favorite dessert in the world is a Thai dessert of sweet sticky rice with mango (preferrably mango icecream). I have a big bag of "sweet sticky rice" from an Asian grocery store and an ice cream maker. At some point this year, i will procure coconut milk and mangos and i WILL make my favorite dessert myself.

-I've known for some time now that the goal of one year that i placed on this project is soon coming to an end (in March) and I decided some time ago that I have no intention of ending the project in March. What that entails for Year 2 of The Xarata Project and this blog, i haven't entirely decided- only that the blog, and my projects, WILL continue. There may be a twist of some sort in the rules (like consignment or craft shows or a guideline in design/material), but I really haven't thought that far just yet. Update: Okay, so maybe I have decided. You will notice an extra "Page" labeled at the top of the blog- The Xarata Project: Year 2 outlining where the blog will go from week 52...






Also, on a side note, I'm fairly certain my sister-in-law gave birth to our very first nephew today, little Andy Nichols. How exciting!

Pain

 New development this week...I've developed a hand twitch...which is probably not good :( It doesn't twitch all the time- mostly if I spend too much time on the computer- but I haven't started on a piece yet this week and am not really sure what effect pliers will have on my hand. We'll see. The twitch seems to be associated with the same movement (pinching something between hand and thumb, like pushing a button on a remote, turning keys/dead bolts, holding certain things-like a measuring cup) that caused me a lot of pain when I originally damaged my hand 3 years ago (oh wow, has it really been 3 years?).

For those that don't know, I popped the cartilage is my hand (where the thumb and index finger bones meet the bones in the wrist) 3 years ago opening a jar of honey (yeah...the jar won...) causing permanent damage. I didn't originally have it treated and after a month of two of diminishing motor function in that hand (related to the aforementioned pinching/squeezing actions- i couldn't turn the deadbolt on my door, couldn't take the parking brake off my car, couldn't scoop ice at work or even feed the dog without intense pain) I went through a couple months of physical therapy with exercises and a fluidometer to regain the full use of my hand/joints. It was my senior year of college so while I was going through physical therapy and wearing an immobilizer, I was still abusing my hand through ceramics, metals, and sewing classes.

 I also have carpal tunnel in both of my hands which in the past few months has caused random pain from hand cramping and stiffness, pins and needles, and sensitivity to cold- especially in the last two fingers on my hands- to unexplained throbbing that radiates in my forearms from wrist to elbow.Carrying really heavy trays aggravates it- which is why i don't pick hours in the banquets department anymore- though the regular trays I carry every day can still leave my fingers miserable.

 Most of the time, I either wake up in pain or I don't and that sets the tone for my day, occassionally the pain comes suddenly in throbbing waves. It's been worse the last couple of weeks and I'm not really sure why- I suspect the incoming winter cold is to blame.  Hopefully this new twitch will be short-lived, but in my experience my hands have only gotten worse over time- there are good days and bad days- but new symptoms don't go away. My carpal tunnel didn't used to bother me, other than occassional pain and tingling- now it bothers me all the time. It doesn't mean that I'll stop working on pieces, because they offer me a sense of fulfillment I don't find in my job, but it does make me remember being told by a doctor that there would come a day where i would have to choose between my hands and my career...I told him I would cross that bridge when it came, I hope I still have a ways to go...

From what little I know, once cartilage is damaged, it is damaged forever and will never be the same. There is no fix for it. The only cure I know of for carpal tunnel is surgery to cut the tendons in the wrist that are aggravating the nerves- and if you continue to use your hands the way that you did, the carpal tunnel will return. Immobilizers offer temporary relief of symptoms. Maybe I should see a specialist, but what are the odds that they can do anything for me? Magic 8 ball says the odds are not in my favor.


*There will still be a week 35 post this week. I just felt the need to vent/share/put my thoughts down in writing. This post will not be facebook linked or anything, but it will be here- mostly because deep down, part of me is terrified that that doctor was telling the truth, and it's a choice I am completely unable and unwilling to make. As I write this, my right hand is twitching- a muscle or tendon in it clearly spasming, and every time i pick up grab something cold with my left hand, the last two fingers seize up and curl- only for a moment, but a moment is enough. The things we take for granted...like being able to use our hands...

Week 32 -The Craft Show

Yes this post is a couple of days late, because I wanted to include the craft show...The craft show was a bit of a bust for me, I only sold 4 items. I had a lot of ogling with everyone telling me how beautiful and unique my stuff was, but not a whole lot of buying. I did have a lot of people ask about custom orders  and my website, and they took my card. One person asked about me doing a custom wedding gift set with initials and i traded cards with a vintner who just opened a winery in Hershey. In theory, my not so great craft show experience COULD turn into some great online orders. Let's cross our fingers. In the meantime, I think I'm finally going to take my inventory to the HodgePodgery and see how consignment treats me.

In preparation for the show, I did make a few things. I painted all those sets I said I would and made sure all the glasses were clean, clear coated, and washed. I also did my geekery glasses this week :) They were pretty much lost on the older crowd (a lot of people told me that 42 was their age or the year they were born), and the pi glass was my suffered casualty to the wind (though if a glass had to break, i'm kind of glad it was that one)

I also made about 4-5 more of those copper bracelets. I sold one. I took another apart to lengthen 2 of the others and used them as arm cuffs and bracelets for my goddess Halloween costume.

My Halloween party was also sort of a bust, but I ended up having a good time anyway. I said I wanted to have a party and at least 2 couples said they were definitely coming and several other singles said they might drop in. Then one couple caught the flu, several friends had visitors come in from other states this weekend, one couple had a family function, and i got a whole lot of "we have to get up early"s which I am not ashamed to say i think is a really lame excuse. All of my friends are in their 20s, and in college i'd party til 3am and be in class operating sewing machines and torches by 8am(which means i got up at 7am). I got out of bed at 8am today, took a shower and picked up the house, and then went back to bed for another hour, but I COULD have gone to work. It wouldn't have been fun, but for a once in a blue moon thing to hang out with friends, i could have done it.

However after much cajoling, one couple agreed to come play with me, and we had great fun. And since there were only 4 of us, I didn't mind using the good liquor. We played spoons,  cracked glowsticks, and threw confetti eggs (painted eggs that have been hollowed, filled with confetti and sealed back up) at both the inside and outside of the house which was a lot of fun. They live down the road and went home around 2:30am and I was glad that Bob got to meet them, because I've always hung out with them without Bob before. Honey actually took to them very quickly also, which she almost never does and made things easier- i prefer when she's kissing guests rather than barking at them.

Week 31

1 week til the craft show- I'm pretty excited about it. I've been pretty busy finishing up glasses and thinking of display stuff.


Glasses:
I told you I had 15 glasses left to paint. They became a set of polkadots, a set of pink roses, a set of flames, and some geekery glasses. I have more plans for "geekery glass" in the form of "42" with 2 little mice (hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference), the symbol pi, "I speak GEEK", and "This is my Zombie Plan". If you're not a geek, it's okay if you don't get any of these, but I assure you they target a demographic. My hand hurt, and I have started developing calluses, but I'm proud. Everything is clear coated now, and even prettier. I intend to wash them before the show, but i want to give them time to air cure.



see the little mice? I feel so clever. lol



This week's glasses

The martinis- you've seen them before



mostly lava and tree bark sets


What I'll be working on this week:
I finally bought some 20 gauge copper wire to play with and began my attempt at the artsfest bracelet i've been promising. It's a fun twist on a link bracelet though i'm still working on getting the links trully consistent. Bob said should make a collar for Honey (our dog) like this. maybe I will. I do want to make a few to take to the show. They take about an hour.

What I'm taking to the show:

-Roughly 50-60 glasses including wine glasses, martini glasses, and shotglasses displayed on neon end tables and some white tables my neighbor tossed when he moved out this week.

-Roughly 50 headbands which i'm going to display on a pretty curtain rod.

-Random pieces of jewelry including chains, link bracelets, pendants, and earcuffs

-maybe some hairflowers

-maybe some copper quill pens

Wish me luck!

Featured on Etsy

I don't know why I didn't bother to mention this but...my headbands were featured on etsy in the treasury section!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c8ba4f4ed9e6d91f6709606/solids-v-patterns?index=34

I just thought it was kind of cool...

Week 29

Alright, the craft show is at the end of the month so it's time to kick my glass-painting butt into gear. My shipment of glasses came in today and I have 40 glasses to paint. The plan is to paint at least 5 glasses everyday for the next week- duplicating a set of 4 and 1 random glass each day. Within 8 days, I will have painted all 40 glasses- giving me time(roughly 2 weeks) to go back and perfect/clean each one, seal them, and have the paint cured before the show.

There's no point in posting pictures of the duplicate sets (you've already seen them), but I will post the random glasses that I make for your enjoyment. Today I painted a set of lava glasses and a black rose glass.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but I painted the center of the rose on the bottom of the glass so the rose actually IS complete when you look down into the goblet.

While picking up my shipment of glasses, I also happened upon these tables for $9.99 each that i think are perfect for taking to the craft show. The legs screw on and off, so they'll transport really well too. Normally lime and hot pink aren't really my thing, but almost all of my glasses are black, and it really pops on these tables.



 This picture doesn't really demonstrate how awesome the glasses look when you're walking near the table, but i was trying to get the whole setup in one picture. I photographed the rose goblet on these tables- so basically it looks like that only zoomed out... with more glasses... I don't really intend to overcrowd it like that either, i just have a lot of glasses that were dominating my kitchen table. Bob suggested i stack them in a pyramid instead of an L. I'll have to play with it.

Ultimately I should have roughly 4 lava sets- one in silver, 2-3 treebark sets, a couple of polkadot sets, and a hodge podge of individuals including a wedding henna wine set, a couple different greenman glasses, a couple of roses, a fingerprint, and about a dozen martini glasses. I'll also be bringing my headbands (I sold 5 this week!), and some assorted silver pendants and ear cuffs, as well as a handful of copper quill pens. 



To those who read my blog, offering critique and support, as well as those who purchase from my etsy store: thank you for keeping me going. There are days when I really hate my job, and you're the ones that make me believe that someday I won't have to wait tables for a living. There are days when I watch my art pieces piling up in my studio and wonder what the point of it all is, and then I get a notification that someone shopped at my etsy store and even when it's just a headband, I feel just a little bit proud that somebody wants something that I made. There are days when I would really rather be lazy and do nothing at all, but posting here makes sure I make something every week- whether it's 100 headbands or 50 handpainted glasses, dozens of hairflowers or intricately twisted silver jewelry- I make and meet those goals because of you. I don't know how many of you there are- I know it's more than the 5 followers I have on blogspot- but I cherish you.

Week 15

This week's project was the re-launching of my etsy store. I've done some trading with my headbands and-since they are a relatively easy thing to make and sell- i decided to start delving into the store front world with them. I made roughly 100 headbands, then categorized and listed them on etsy. I also revamped my banner with a pic of the ceiling in my studio- i think it's pretty cute.

There's still about 4 hours left in the day/week and i might do something else, but this was my goal for the week and I'm glad that I made myself complete it.

http://xarata.etsy.com/

I decided I want to start sketching again. There was a point in my life where I really enjoyed doodling- both the process and the tiny picture that resulted, and I'm really not sure why I stopped...Anywho, here's tonight's doodle:

Interrim Garden Post

I'm loving on my garden so i felt like adding pictures- i DID make it after all...

Firstly, my front door, surrounded in morning glories. I didn't put these here, but i love them, and i was quite put out to come home tonight and find that my landlord took it upon herself to rip out the vine going up the left hand side of the door in the picture(but the obnoxious vine growing under the house and into the basement that tries to choke out everything- THAT they leave growing. I'M the one who ripped it out from nearly strangling the roses but the morning glories, they need to go ::rolls eyes::). I was so close to having it framed in morning glory wonderousness...

This is my flower garden. Most of the flowers are currently done(entire bottom left is columbine) or not yet blooming. Bob bought me the little fairy... The landlord mentioned that the little fence wouldn't keep the bunnies out and i admitted that i put it there to keep their lawnmower and weedwacker out (i've had several plants mowed/wacked since we moved in a year ago) and could care less about the bunnies. It may sound harsh but as evident from the morning glory situation- i have reason to partition plants i don't want destroyed. I have another flower garden bordering the side of the house that faces the yard, but i just planted summer bulbs so all it has in it right now is a small forsythia bush, a bleeding heart, and a garden gnome- not much to look at.

This is my herb garden, mostly overflowing with mint. There's lemonbalm on the right, a variety of small herbs on the left (lavender, thyme, basil, parsley, chives) and some cilantro hidden on the other side of the mint. There is a small lilac bush in the right hand corner not pictured.

My little veggie garden. It's only existed for about a week and a half and it's shaped like a stretched out half-circle. On the left, behind the flower garden, you see the pumpkin vine borne of last year's halloween pumpkin. next to it in the dirt is a bit of the vine i dug up on the off chance landlord decided to whack my pumpkin vine (though i told both the landlord and her son who does the mowing that it is a pumpkin and i want it there, one can never be too careful). Then there's carrots, cucumber, turnips, zucchini, radishes, jalapenos, cayenne peppers, and a tomato plant. the whole front is lined with lettuce seeds which i hope will grow. I also have little pots of planting soil with some tiny cherry tomato plants and more lettuce seeds.

I'm still contemplating this week's "art project". I may be compelled to paint...feeling some watercolor...

edit: i did go out to the weeded pile and pull out a very long rope of morning glories with roots still attached at the end and put the roots in the ground and tuck the vine up the side of the door. If it dies, i'll rip it out, but at least i tried. It's from the side of the house that i don't care for. There are 2 gardens I don't touch on either side of the house- one is full of some green and white leafy thing that was clearly planted there and overtook interspersed with irises, daffodils, and queen anne's lace. I tried to add a plant there once and it didn't go well so i leave it alone. The other side of the house (where we park our cars) is a mess of weeds, evil vines, a cute ground-variety of phlox they plant here in Hershey (which she whacked with the rest of it in the spring) and more morning glories which i am happy to have (and she rips out). In this garden, all i touch is the rose bush and the rose of sharon bush to keep the evil vines from killing them because the garden is just not worth saving. By the door there are tigerlillies which again, i only touch to unstrangle. I planted hyacinths in this little front door garden near the tigerlillies(which they weedwhacked to the ground in the spring) and a mum on the other side of the porch step (which they weedwhacked to the ground in the spring). I think i just need to repossess all of the gardens touching the house and then she won't touch them anymore. This may be the best policy...