Thursday, October 11, 2007, 08:57 PM CST [General]
I totally rocked my interview at Barnes&Nobles! Im almost postivie I got it, a nice 6am-11am M-F shift. Awesome! Good hourly rate too, Im very happy.
They called my references too, so heres hoping for the call tomorrow!
This weekend is the celebration for my Moms birthday - were going to go to Bucca de Beppos (a family-eating-style high end Italian restaurant) and eat at the Chefs table. Basically, what that restaurant does is you walk through the kitchen to sit at the table, and theres one table IN the kitchen! Its a wonderful spoilage for my wonderful mommy ^_^
Shes really looking forward to it, me too! =3
I also have *SIX* rough sketches for ACEOs, Im so excited. Also Im doing 10 free sketches on my deviant art page, and then some person autumn peices too. Getting this job thing squared away has really upped my artablility. Yay! <3
Now to just draw my way through tomorrow as I wait patiently for the phone to ringring!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007, 12:41 PM CST [General]
I can not express how amazing this concert was.
She not only played EVERY ONE of my very favoritest songs, they were so much more amazing live! She had 9 musicians there and they shared the stage with love and passion and it was just ....
Completely reenergizing! <3
That was totally one of my top ten things to do in my life! And Id do it again! Haha!
Ive really had a good but busy year, but weve hit a budget problem.
We
have a nice big house, car, and some credit card debt. With the rise of
gas prices, energy prices, and some of the house-associated costs - we
pretty much 'break even' bills wise with hubbys pay.
That includes everything, like food, gaming subs, and pills and what not. All the 'necessities' if you will.
We have pretty good amount in savings (a full paycheck) and I have some 'business starter' money in my ING checking account.
But heres where the 'omfg I dunno, waaaa' thing comes in.
*Everything*
we want to buy outside of paying bills, and basic groceries, will now
come out of 'my paycheck'. So, hubby and I both agree that its not
omg-were-gonna-lose-the-house no one can go forever without going out
to eat or buying something.
So, heres the main issue of huge huge confusion. Here are the options weve come up with:
1)
Stay steady with the art production and sales. I will output 2-3 ACEOs
a week, as well as work steadily on larger prints. Plus the sales of
prints, bookmarks, buttons, and commissions.
The problem with
this is outside conventions, it can be a terrible amount of no-money.
As in, I can make $20 a week sometimes if Im lucky. I most likely can
not, at this time, make more than $100 a week on Ebay/Etsy/Deviant art.
Art Sales: Part-Full Time: $20-$400 a month
2)
Part time job at some retail place. Now, I realize retail isnt the end
of the world. But I *did* go to college, right? I have a degree. Ive
been working all over for a year now trying to 'be an artist' and Im
looking at going back to Starbucks or maybe trying out for a bookstore.
Now, that all said (and rather dramatically) I know that this can be
rather steady pay.
Again, problem is that theres no way to have
any idea what the hours will be. I can really only work near his work,
8am-6pm M-F. I dont even know if thats possible anymore. I pulled it
off at Starbucks, but some weeks I had 5 hours. =p
Retail: Part-Full Time: $100-600 a month
3)
Not really a long drawn out option, but combo of above. Can I do it? I
really dont know. I dont think it will hurt to try, other than feeling
like a dork for 'needing a part time job' to support my art sales.
Art Sales + Part Time Retail: Full Time: $120-$100 a month
4)
A 'real job'. God save me. I dont even know where to start looking for
these. When I got out of college, I didnt really want to DO 3d anymore!
So other than scooting around Monster.com looking at some really basic
data entry jobs, I dont know. Scared. =p
The real problem with
this is, of course, I give up my own art stuff. I cant do full time +
art, and I bless anyone that can. I dont have the power captain!
Full Time 'Real' Job: I have no idea. $10-$15 an hour, soul required!
----
So
any advice, hope, something I dunno. I think were leaning towards
sniffing around part time retail and seeing if a part time in that
bracket is even possible and trying to do part time art sales and
seeing what works.
Im still also all caught up in the -- gee,
does my art ever even GOING to sale? It doesnt seem to sell well
online, maybe not much does outside of the ACEO market. All I know is
Im terribly frustrated and worried no matter what I choose, its a
pretty scary fail.
Mega Sale Pack: TWO Prints, TWO Bookmarks (or badges), and THREE Buttons all for: $10!
Savings of : -- $10 --
To ORDER: Note me, or email me at gwynn@starrydance.com
Thank you!
-- Prints come in a plastic sleeve with a backing board, Bookmarks and Mini Bookmarks are laminated/plastic sleeve with a tassel, Badges are laminated with a badge clip, and buttons are buttons! =3 --
-- All paper and inks are archival, on 5 Star epson paper! --
(Ill have a huge product shot ready later today!)
Personal news: It looks like my big desktop computer, with all my print files and stuffs - might be dead. So this sale is to help fix my poor computer. I cant do art (or game) till its back on its feet! Please help! <3
Hello again everyone! Just got back from Houston (we didnt have to leave till Monday, what a nice treat).
We had a wonderful time at my parents house. We always do! We got to see my little brother, hes so happy at college its nice to see. Also got to see the Galveston house, its coming along beautifully (My parents are remodelling a vacation house there). And of course, we ate a lot!
Dads feeling so much better. Hes back trying to eat healthy - the chemo really made him hungry *all the time* and of course, rather silly to diet on chemo! But hes feelin bad about his gained weight so hes back to eating all the good stuff! But we had this *divine* prime rib roast with mashing sweet potatoes. We ended up eating it at my little brothers work (he works at Dunns brothers, a coffeshop) as a little picnic! His coworker got to nomnom too!
But, we had lots of fun and hubby got to play FFXI a lot more than usual over a weekend. I just mostly read and chatted - and go figure I get home tonight and want to play some WoW and my computer wont boot! Im sure he'll fix it tomorrow tho <3.
So, for this week..... going to clean and clean I think. Especially if my computers down this week. Man, I have so much art to do too! I think Ill just sketch and clean this week, then. All my scanners and printers are hooked up to the main PC, tho, so dont know how well that will work. Oh well, wont stress about it right now.
Hubby and I are also focused on having more work around the house done, cleaning and polishing done. Want a nice clean house! Its hard to go, sometimes, to others our ages houses. Especially some of his coworkers! Of course, they either have a 10 year head start or have a HUGE pottery barn debt! *giggles*. Itll work out as it does, tho.
Tomorrow I want to spend some time wandering around here too! I havent really had any time to do so!
