Monica

New job (again)

2007-06-09T00:36:11Z

As some of you may know, I will be starting back up with Sara starting Monday. That means I get to spend my days of this beautiful summer with my niece and nephew. What a great job eh?

New skirt

2006-11-21T01:27:57Z

This is a skirt I made for a friend. Pretty cool huh?

2006-09-20T20:39:51Z

2006-09-20T20:23:53Z

2006-09-20T20:23:26Z

My fabulous new toy

2006-09-20T20:01:20Z

Well, it seems it has been a year or more since I last made an entry here. There are actually some new things happening in my life (well John's really) but here goes...

I received a fantastic birthday present from my wonderful family recently and have had a lot of fun testing it out. I practically gave the UPS guy a heart attack with the enthusiasum of my opening the door, and kept saying how excited I was to recieve the package. Then, along comes John and says "You just made her day" to the delivery man, to which he replies "yeah, I kinda figured that."
Anyways, I have included some pictures of it with an outfit I made for myself. Tell me what you think.

Also, big news for John. He has been employed at Micheals for some time now after leaving JoAnns for a senior framer position. (more hours more money) The current framing specialist (job titles are so un-specific aren't they?) is leaving JoAnns in a few weeks, and John was offered the position. This is after months of me being repeatadly asked how he likes it at his new job, and would he consider coming back. I was not about to answer that question for him, but they brought him in for an interview. He accepted the job on Monday and put in his two weeks today at Micheals. Well, they like him so much that they offered him the same wages to stay with them, and an offer of promotion around the first of the year!!! Now comes the decision making.
(as a side note, what he will be making is nearly twice what I make. Jealous? A little, but don't take it wrong, I am so proud of him for it)
He wants my advice, to which I give, try to get more out of JoAnns and see what comes of it. Good advice? At Michaels he would have less responsibility and liability, but more power and position at JoAnns. We shall see.

Anyways, i cannot thank you all enough for the dressform, I love it and will make good use of it. Enjoy the pictures.

I am thankful for...

2006-01-31T21:20:20Z

I am so thankful for my family. Sometimes I cannot beleive how lucky I am to
have a family as great as the one that I do. Family is the one thing in
one's life that remains constant, the one place where you feel accepted no
matter what.
And my family is a great one. It is big, and is growing, and the more
additions it receives, the better it gets.
It is only my family that reads this blog, so here's to you all. Thank you
fer being there for me. Thank you for providing me with the love and support
that you do. Thank you for accepting me and my addition to our family, John.
Thank you for providing me with an oppurtunity to see all of you at one
time. We all recently went on a fantastic trip to Canada at a mountain where
some of us learned to ski, and we got to spend three fun filled days in the
snowy cold that was Blue Mountain.
I had a great time, as I hope the rest did as well.
So, thank you again Doug, Nancy for the wonderful trip. And thank you to
Dad, Greg, Carrie, Sara, Chad, Mary Ann and Paul. And thank you Jade, Seth,
Finn and Luke for being the wonderful rays of sunshine that you all are. I
love you all.

Movin' on up ( or at least moving )

2005-08-15T15:20:01Z

Summer has just flown by me so quickly, and preparing to move has been a
much bigger task than I imagined. But as my move out date approached, and I
still had no job to direct my search, an oppurtunity arose. Mary Ann's
roomate accepted a job in another city, and to prevent Mary Ann from
breaking her lease, she needed someone to move in. Well she got two
someones, John and I. It just happened to be that it worked out so well, it
almost seems as if it was meant to be this way. It will be fun moving back
in with my sister, its been a long time since we have lived together and I
will also be closer to Dad, and very close to Sara and her family.
SO finding a job was also much harder than I imagined. I have put
applications in all over the place through Monster, and Hotjobs and only got
responses back that I didnt have enough experience. I interviewed with
Abercrombie and Fitch twice, once for a manager in training position and
then they wanted to interview me for a visual merchandising position. I
thought I had this job in the bag, I had schooling in the area, my interview
went really well (or so I thought) and they had upped the ante and had
called me for a better position. But several days later, I got a card in the
mail saying that they were looking at other people. What a dissapointment!
Here I am thinking I have all this background, good personality and
originality and then nothing. Maybe it was the originality part they didnt
like. It is A&F after all, I guess I dont really fit right in with their
style.
Then last weekend, as I looking for apartments in lower MI, I get a call
from a lady at ManAlive, a hip-hop clothign company that I had applied for
online. I got an interview on Monday in Grand Rapids for a manager position.
My interview lasted a long time, and I am thinking my interview went well,
but I still havent heard back from anyone, even after I left messages with
the lady I interviewed with. I am preparing myself for another
dissapointment, but am hoping for the best.
As it stands, I am moving on the 26th down to Bellville with Mary Ann and
will start my search over again. Cross your fingers.......

Back Again

2005-06-02T18:20:04Z

Well, I have finally re-entered the wonderful world of the interweb!! I
recently bought a new computer and am slowly re-working all of the things
that I lost on my old computer. As many of you know, my other computer had a
small unknown water mishap and is now out of commission. But, hopefully I
will be able to retrieve all of the needed info off of the hard drive.
Anyways, I jsut returned from a music festival in Illinois, 40-50 bands and
one I love (of course), Umpreys McGee. I unfortunatly lost my keys out
there, but luckily John had an extra set, so I wasnt stuck out in the middle
of nowhere.
I sewed up some cute tops to sell at the festival and I sold three!! I could
have sold more, but I was more interested in the music than peddeling my
goods. Its a good start to build up my portfolio, and I have also found two
stores in the area that have agreed to carry some of my things. I have also
decided to work on my jewelry making and build up that part of my portfolio
as well.
It feels good to be back to doing the things that I love, and working on
honing my skills as an artist.
As a funny side note, here is a picture of John with a mullet. As you may
remember, he had long shaggy hair. As the summer months approach, he decided
to cut off his hair, and in the process fashioned himself a rockin' mullet.
Enjoy :o)

Amsterdam here I come!!!

2005-03-02T19:40:09Z

So my trip is quickly approaching (two weeks!!!) and I am getting pretty
excited. I am also a little nervous but I am sure all will be well. I have
found many, many things to do while we are there: Van Gogh Museum, there is
a wildlife preserve a ways out of town , shopping and the Anne Frank House.

I am just wondering if there are any neccesities that I should take along,
like a money belt. Also, should I take a few Euros with me before I am
outside of the country?

You all have more experience with this type of thing than me and I need some
pointers.

Graduation

2004-12-12T03:40:03Z

Well, I have not written in a real long time. Guess I should sit down and write something. I have been so content to look at the pictures of my new nephew and read all about his happeneings that I really havent done my own. I have also been really busy, but soon that will all change.

I am finally graduaitng from college!!! After 5 and 1/2 long years at CMU I am finally busting out of here. For those of you who dont know, I will be walking on the 18th, which is one week from today. I have been working really hard to get my portfoilo finished and prepare for the last of my finals....my final finals.. :op ..sorry, cheesy joke. Anywho, I will be sending announcements to make it known to all, although I am a bit embarrased that it has taken me this long, as well as being so close to Christmas.

But it is still an acomplishment, one in a string of many I hope...

traveling

2004-10-30T15:00:05Z

Alright, I know that many of you check this page or respond to it more than your actual email, so I thought I would pose a question to all on this page. As most of you know John and I will be travelling to the Netherlands in March for about a week. I have been checking plane ticket prices for a few months and notice that the prices have been increasing greatly. I want to know if prices will continue to rise, or if maybe they will go down after the holiday season. When I first checked around Sept. two tickets would have been about $600. Now thay are up to $1,100. I cannot afford them at this time, but if they will keep going up, I suppose I should find a way to pay for them now. If any of you have any useful info on this subject, I would love your input.

And don't forget to vote on Tuesday :o)

Pictures

2004-09-21T18:20:03Z

I just took pictures today of all of my peices from the fashion show. I need them for my portfolio. I thought that I would share them with everyone, especially those who couldn't be there to see the show. Anyways, here they are.

finding new things

2004-09-17T17:00:02Z

So, after living in this for about five years now, I am just now finding out some of the great things about Mount Pleasant.

John and I both had the afternoon off the other day, and John found an old metal Pez plaque fpr $10 and I found a hardcover, new Stephan King novel for $5!! John has been collecting Pez for a long time, and I have a collection of Stephan King books, what a steal. After that we went to the recycling center where I got a sticker pass for my car.

The next day I headed down to the farmers market that goes on every thursday at the main park in town, and I found some great produce for a great price. I bought a bunch of tomatoes, peaches, raspberries, onions and got some local honey. I can't beleive that I had never gone to any of these neat little happenings in town before.

With all my produce, I took the day to make some salsa and some peach topping. In the great tradition that mom used to do, I also baked some biscuits, and John brought home some half and half for Mom's tasty treat that we always used to eat. I remember going strawberry picking with mom every summer, coming home and cleaning thousands of strawberries, and then having strawberry shortcake for dinner. What great memories that brings back. As much as I disliked kneeling down in the hot strawberry patch, the taste of those berries with mom's delicious biscuits was worth all that work every summer.

So, with that said, I am going to eat some tasty peaches and cream, and think about all those wonderful summers with mom...

a scary day

2004-09-10T15:10:01Z

Well, yesterday was a little bit on the strange side for me and John in Mt Pleasant.

I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing, and initially didnt want to get up. When it stopped, and then immediatly started ringing again I knew it was important and got up to answer it. I saw that it was John and cheerfully answered the phone. To my surprise he said "I am on my way to the hospital." "What happened?" I asked, thinking that he had cut his hand at work, and needed stitches. He replied "I know this sounds stupid, but I have symptoms of a heart attack" which he proceeded to tell me had been going on the night before but he didnt want to worry me so had not said anything. "I'll be there in a couple minutes" I said and hurried to get ready. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a couple granola bars and rushed out the door.

When I arrived at the emergency room, I didnt see Johns car and when I entered the waiting room area, I again didnt see John. Then I was really worried, but when I turned around to walk back the other way, I saw that he was just getting up from the sign in desk. He was really pale, and sweaty looking, and when we sat down, he said "I'm really scared." I agreed and we waited for them to get him into a room.

He had been having a real tightness in his chest since the night before, and his left arm was feeling numb and tingly, some of the symptoms of a heart attack. His family has no history of heart attacks, but when the feeling didnt go away after he had been at work for over an hour, it was time to get it chekced out.

After a few minutes, we got into a room in the ER. They hooked him up to a heart, BP and breathing monitor, and put and oxygen thingy in his nose. It just broke my heart to see him hooked up to all that stuff. :o(

But as I watched the readings on the machine, I felt that what was going on was not anything to do with his heart. BPM were normal, no abnormalities in rhythm. The doctor came in and listened to his chest, and asked alot of questions.

The doctor told us, jsut from the readings on the machine, and his age that he probably wasnt having a heart attack but just to be sure they also ran an EKG, did a chest x-ray and drew some blood to run tests. They also gave him an IV and gave him Ativan which helps to calm people down and reduce the effects of an attack.

We waited for a while, then the doctor returned with some news, not necessarily great news but better than we had feared. It seems that John has an anxiety disorder, which can have the very same symptoms of heart attack, and that he must have been having an anxiety attack. The doctor talked about treatments, and what was going on inside the body, and after we asked him questions, he left the room.

At this point, John felt so releived that he started to tear up, which sets off a chain reaction I think, and I started to cry. We talked for awhile and waited for the nurses to come back to get everything taken care of.

The doctor said that what was going on is probably situational, what with John working two jobs, and really disliking one of them. The stress that goes along with that can cause anxiety to become overwhelming. So the doctor prescribed Zoloft, along with Ativan to help out when an attack comes along. We came home and John slept for a good couple of hours, when he woke up he said he felt much better.

Thank God that there was nothing as serious as a heart condition that was causing all the problems. But finding that fact out is going to cost quite a bit of money I am sure. Along with all the tests that they ran, and the fact that John's insurance through his new job has not taken effect yet will definatly be expensive. But you cannot put a price on your health, and we will deal with that as it comes along. The Zoloft is a very expensive drug we were told, although the doctor did give John a 21 day starter pack, and mentioned something about possibly being able to get him samples from there on out. The thing about it is once you start taking it, you cant quit "cold turkey" or it can have worse effects than before you started. The good thing is, this is not a drug that he will have to take for the rest of his life, it is non-addictive (they say) and he will probably be on it for less than a year, possibly only six months.

He has not actually started the medication yet, he wants to think about it first and see how he feels today.

Well, yesterday was a strange day for sure, but I guess I feel better knowing that everything is ok. We will work through this together, and hope that it all works out in the end...