Absolutely Abnormally Obsessed

The first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem - and folks, I have a problem. I am infatuated with Criminal Minds, the TV show. I'm not a TV watcher, so this is huge for me. HUGE.

I love Agent Morgan. And Hotch. And Dr. Reid. And Garcia kicks ass.

I'm sorry, I would post a little more, but the commercial is over.

The Non-Honeymoon

The past few weeks have been hectic for me. I've been dealing with a some extra pressure at work and the stress seems to maybe be catching up to me. The other day I got in the elevator and forgot to press a button - I went up and down, up and down, up and down, before finally coming to and remembering where I needed to go! How embarrassing!

It doesn't help that Mr. Law and I should have spent the first two weeks of October in Spain, on our Honeymoon. We couldn't go because of work, and yes, I am royally bummed about it. Even though we didn't end up getting to go to Spain, Mr. Law still had his two weeks off from work. He's been such a help lately with chores and house work and general cheering-up. I can't put into words how happy I am to have him.

Living Room Update

Does anybody remember the saga of my sofa from over the summer?

It all started with this post, where I sadly admitted that my sofa was indeed broken.  Mr. Law and I argued a bit about what new sofa to get as a replacement, and eventually we decided on the brown leather sofa. Of course, it didn't fit through our front door, as I updated you all in this post. And then, finally, after well over a month, we got our sofa delivered safe and sound, and I began my quest for completing the living room. In this previous post, I drooled over all sorts of things I wanted to my living room - front bright rugs to pillows to coffee tables.

Oh, and I also remember mentioning our "weekend" project of installing our built-in unit. Well, it took much longer than we thought, but it's about 90% finished now, and I thought I'd share some pictures. I think I might also devote an entire post to how we went about the TV unit, since it was kinda awesome.

Here are some pictures of our living room before and after the updates....

Before:

 

After:

Looking sharp, right? I LOVE all the changes and I'd say right now the living room is about 80% finished. Aside from the new sofa and TV unit, you might notice our lack of area rug. We moved the previous area rug into the dining room, where it seems to be staying, and the orange one I loved (and still love) is making me nervous - too much orange? It was on sale back when I wrote the post, which made it even more appealing to me, but now that it's full price, I seem less motivated to add that POP of color.

I did, however, purchase the amazing decorative pillows from Martha and Ash, as mentioned/showed in my previous post.  The ladies at Martha and Ash were awesome to work with, and I can't lie, I kinda have a crush on ALL of their pillows! I would most definitely purchase from them again - the pillows I have are the perfect shade of orange, they are a good high quality (I love the down inserts, even if they make my husband sneeze), and they improve my quality of nap. Overall four thumbs up!


Now I'm off to work on a few things, and hopefully I'll be back to posting a little later today!

The Itch Up Catch Up

I was woken up last night by a throbbing in my hand and came to realize that my hand had swollen and my wedding rings were cutting off circulation to my finger. Quick trip to the bathroom, and a little Windex later, I got my rings off and went back to bed. I got up this morning to go to work and freaked when I saw myself in the mirror - I'm all puffy and swollen, with either a hive or a bug bite smack in the middle of my forehead. Fabulous. I feel a little like an elephant, and an itchy one at that.

Pinterest

And since my face/head seems to be taking the brunt of this latest allergic reaction, I feel a little like sticking my face into a bucket of ice water.

Pinterest

So, instead of scratching non-stop, I am hoping to get myself some meds (I'm rarely happy about pills, but right now I am!) work on some things around the house, upload some pictures of my recent finished design projects, maybe get some wedding designs together for the newest Minted Challenge, work on my holiday card line, hit the food stores so that I can eat something with my rice for dinner tonight, and then maybe I can do some laundry. Too much? You're right, I'll be lucky if I can get two of those things done.

Oh, and also, I now have a Twitter! Follow me at @BelieveNotes! I'm still futsing around a bit, but loving Twitter so far!

So, depending on how I feel today, you might be in for a few more posts! Keep checking back :)

My Mind Hurts....

I'm sorry everybody for the lack of posts over the past few days. I took five days off from my 9-5 job with high hopes for relaxation, enjoying the summer and catching up on all of my stationery projects. Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me, as I've so far spent 4 out of the 5 days on the sofa with a migraine.

I've suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember, although they were recently diagnosed as "cluster" style migraines. Clusters are the most debilitating type of headache, as they last for days/weeks and progressively get worse as the time goes on. Imagine a migraine that wakes up with you in the morning, and goes to bed with you at night, day in, day out - until, all of a sudden, it's gone.

Ick, I just hope this thing goes away by the time I have to return to work tomorrow....

On a lighters note, I've spent a whole bunch of time this weekend on our new, leather sofa! Yes, the saga from this post, and this post, has finally come to an end. We were finally able to get the sofa inside, and I have to admit that I love it. Our living room is starting to come together, although now I need a new (I'm thinking round) coffee table, and a new sofa table (maybe a white parsons?), oh, and a few pillows would be good too!!

I've been secretly wishing for this pillow, from Martha & Ash on Etsy. I'm just smitten with the ikat pattern, and we alllll know I'm a sucker for all things orange. The only thing holding me back right now is that I can't seem to find a perfect, luxurious down alternative for the insert. If anybody has a good source for super lush pillow inserts, let me know!!!

Orange Ikat Pillow Cover from Martha & Ash

I'm also digging this pillow, from Giardino, another Etsy seller! Again, sucker for orange. Again, need a good insert.

Faux Bois Stripe Pillow Case from Giardino

Alright - I'm now off to spend my last day of vacation sipping coffee and taking Advil. If the weather holds out, and if I feel up to it, Mr. Law and I are planning on trying to get into the city to try out S'MAC, which has been on our "must dine" list forever. Unfortuantely (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it) S'MAC has recently been on every foodie show on the Food Network channel. I'm anticipating HUGE lines, but hopefully the mac and cheese is as good as they say it is!

Month in Review

So today is Sunday, July 3rd...it's a rainy, muggy, steamy day here in Queens, and when I look out over the water, Manhattan seems lost in the fog. Yuck. Weather it's raining or not, I seem to have found a pattern in that I almost always blog on Sundays, which is good, because I know my weekday blogging has been slower. It's for good reason though. Remember this post? Well, I am still tired, but I have gotten a lot accomplished. During my honeymoon I really did some thinking about where I want my life to go, and I decided that someday I would love to do full time stationery design. That sort of a thing doesn't happen overnight. So over the past month I have spend every moment working on my business. I get home after the 9-5 and I begin working on my Etsy shop, networking through my Facebook page, and taking photos of new designs to prep them for sale. I've also been able to submit a few birth announcement designs to Minted, which reminds me, you need to go vote for them!!! Here are the two designs I submitted, click and vote please:

"Falling in Love" Birth Announcement

"Sweet Hearts" Birth Announcement

I am very proud of myself that I was able to pull out two designs. It's the small milestones that make me proud these days :)

My Facebook page is doing very well, we're up to 129 "likes" which I'm feeling good about. I had a giveaway when I reached 100 "likes" but it seems the person that won has gone out of business and did not claim their prize. I'm thinking I might do a "pop up" giveaway in the near future to make up for it.

I've launched my new line of business cards on Etsy, and so far they have been a hit. I sold one around five minutes after it was posted and I have a few more custom orders that I am working on as well. Designing business cards is fun for me, but I am definitely struggling with the costs involved. Since they are so tiny I have a hard time cutting them properly at home. While I would love to print them on my trusted home printer, I've realized it would be better to have them done professionally. The problem with that, of course, is that it is slightly more expensive and takes much more time.  So far it seems the "Soft Lattice" design is the winner, I've already sold several of them. She sure is pretty though, isn't she?

"Soft Lattice" Business Card on Etsy

I seem to have finally found the secret to taking pictures of my cards, which happened accidentally, but who cares! I love the way they've been coming out. My research has taught me that no matter how much research you do, and no matter how many "how to" tutorials you watch, the "correct" way to do something is always a little trial, a little error, and totally unique. What works for everybody else may not work for me, and what works for me may not work for everybody else. Hmm, sounds like something my mom has been telling me for, well, ever. *sigh*

You may also remember this fiasco with my carbon monoxide situation, and I'm very, very happy to report that my dad did indeed fix the problem. We haven't had any carbon monoxide issues since the whole thing happened, but I still panic when I hear things beeping. My coworkers cell phone was dying a few days ago and it began to beep, my first instinct was to panic, but then I realized it was a cell phone. I wonder how long it'll take before I can hear a beep without thinking I need to evacuate?

Anyway, life is moving along pretty well. I wanted to give you a little catch-up post before some other posts about specific topics. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about all of my vendor reviews for the wedding. I am waiting until I get my professional pictures are back so that I can use them in the posts. Hopefully next week :)

I hope you are all enjoying you Sunday, whether it's rainy or sunny!!

Today I am Tired

Today I am tired. Not just a little tired, but sleep-in-your-food tired. You know the feeling, looks a little like this...

I might feel like hell right now, but I think I've gotten a lot accomplished this week. I've started a Believe Notes Facebook page, which is really exciting because I adore Facebook (who doesn't?!). I'm planning on doing a little give away when the page reaches 100 "likes" so please head on over and like like like me!

I've also finished up two more of my wedding invitation designs for a new line, which I know I've been dragging my feet on, but now that my own wedding is over, I can focus on launching these new designs.

Over the week I've done some research on taking better pictures of my products, and I've starting re-shooting everything using the tips I learned. Everything looks great and I plan on adding a new item to my Etsy Shop every week! I'm also exploring other options for online stores. Etsy rocks, but I would love to be able to offer higher end wedding invitations through a separate vehicle. Sometimes I feel like Etsy demands the lowest prices possible, and in order to do that I need to keep the designs simple. I'd love to have two shops, one for the high end products and another shop for the more DIY client...I might even explore printable designs.

Anyway, this week I have also begun networking. My business has taken a backseat over the past two years to home buying and wedding planning, but moving forward I want focus on growing my passion for stationery. I'm looking forward to learning as much as possible about the stationery business world over the next years.

So, for now, me and my tired little self are going to go relax - for maybe 5 minutes....and then I'll find something more interesting to do :)