life....

Life comes at you in the best and worst of ways......

My life just a short 6 months ago....
I was approaching my senior year of college
Working at a wonderful five and dime
money was tight but i could enjoy myself when we went out with friends
i could buy the items i wanted
I was 5-6 months away from applying for grad school, in art therapy
i was with a great guy
and life was great.....

Jump ahead 6 months to now.....
No job, it went out of business
I am a week away from my semester being over and 2 weeks from my new and final one starting.
Money is worst then tight i am scraping pennies and begging for money from my family to pay the bills.
I am still with that great guy, but while he was gone in Tennessee he became a slob :/
Grad school has been pushed so far away it isn't even on the plate.... This decision was made today it just is not feasible with moving.
On a brighter side that great guy and i are engaged, which my previous post mentioned.
But other then that i am..... blank...

Don't take what you have for granted, even the little things can make the darkest room seem bright.
Today i went to get my paycheck from a job i only had for a month before they let go of all of their new employees (they hired 6) but could not generate the business they had anticipated. I was really bummed out because the woman who owned the place was not nice to me, and was very COLD. As if it were my fault that business was so bad... Uhh hello lady you just moved to a new location 2 weeks ago and it is not exactly a metropolis it is a little podunk city with two other coffee shops in the city while you are on the outskirts.. Seriously. Anyway... My old boss Katherine was across the street from my house when i got home visiting a friend of ours so i went over and got the warmest hug, that took away every bad feeling i had just to be there with her. In that moment i realized why i asked her to be my maid of honor. I love her just like a sister, i am so glad that i got to work for her for 2 1/2 years and would not take away a single second of it.

So look on the brightside...... and on that note... a change of pace..... due to the impending holiday that is coming... Chrismahanukwanza! (sorry if one of these are not in this season.. :D) I am doing budget gifts.....

For myself i was in two art classes so i am handing out paintings i did ( i have 8-9), then for ceramics i have 6 tiles (some are better then others), a lovely vase that i hate because of how much work went into it, a bust of myself(not yet fired), a wonderful platter that i love and may not give away, and 6 stoneware mugs... But if you are not in an art class there are alternatives.....

One of my favorite ideas for a gift for someone you don't really know or who you know loves to bake is to take a mason jar, fill it with your favorite recipe (minus the liquids) and toss on a bow and the recipe of how to finish it. Last year my neighbor gave me a recipe for a granola nut chocolate bar, it was great! Really fun too because i did not have to measure the ingredients they already were done. You can also do this with soup mixes, or really anything you want. (image above)

Quick idea list:
1. crochet or knit pot holders, hand towels, scarfs, mittens, slippers, whatever you want depending on what you can do!
2.) Sew a blanket, or scarfs, mittens, slippers,hats, etc.
3.) If you are artsy make then something like tiles, paintings, etc.
4.) Even if you are not in an art class you can go to an art store and buy paint, and other stuff to create whatever you want, sometimes there are even kits to teach you to do something and your family will be none the wiser... Also you can buy sculpty clay in a big box for about ten bucks but if you hollow out and fill with aluminum foil, the clay can stretch along way.. and then you can make a bunch of cool things with it like figurines... the sky is the limit.
5.) baking for family members, just no fruit cake... This should be BANNED!!!

To be frugal for a hugely commercialized holiday you just have to think creatively... The sky is the limit! If you have any ideas feel free to comment.

Take care! and Happy Holidays!!!!
-A

Favorite Song of the Day- Snow Patrol "crack the shutters"

Sleep Art

Seriously, i am taking ceramics and painting... Doing ceramics while terribly tired= iffy, Doing oil painting while so tired you don't want to move= awesome. Though i am pretty sure my A.d.d had something to do with it. While tired my mind is wore out and so it allows my ADD to take the back burner and my creativity jump forward. Or something, its sad to say but i hope i am sleepy on Thursday so i can finish my painting. =)

In very cool news, "J" and i went to a bridal show Thursday at Macy's and entered a few contests, i have never won a single thing in my life, so i figured it was like everything else that i entered pointless and a waste of time, but hey why not. The next day when i was at a Bridal Expo with my mom and grandma i got a call saying that J and i had won 2 Toasting flutes valued at $150, seriously. So i planned on going in today. Monday i got a call from the salon saying i had won a thermal hair package. Awesome! So i went in to pick up my prizes:D Then the fiancee took me out for a lovely dinner to olive garden, since he is leaving in about 2 weeks for his 5 week teaching gig in Tennessee. :( I'll miss him but they are paying well and it is his first time teaching, and he's Teaching comics... Awesome:D

Toodles-
I swear i will have a recipe soon!

Internship/Volunteer

So as i said in my yesterday posts, i am a senior about to apply for graduate school. The big problem that i am having is no volunteer experiences. I have tried to get into the local suicide helpline but they make you take off 2 consecutive weekends and 2 Wednesdays to do training. Me not living at home and those being my only work days creates a HUGE problem.
2 weeks no pay=homeless.
So i did not do it. The local homeless help place has a counseling position, but you have to also do 3 weeks of training and they always seem to fall on school/work even entire shifts, and 3 weeks no school & no pay= not graduating and again homeless.
So last night in my panic i emailed a local nursing home for Alzheimer patients. I had done this before but no one had responded. Today i get a call while over at my mom's that they want/need me will happily write me a letter of recommendation and work around my schedule 100% the only thing that would make this better would be pay! But i wont be greedy. So Monday i start my first day and get to do a range of stuff from talking, playing cards, doing art, whatever.

So yeah awesome:)

I also may have found an officiant to do the ceremony for free!! He's a friend of mine, who apparently is certified. Go figure?

This weekend in wedding news- The fiancee and i are going on Saturday to scout out a location that we think would be perfect for the reception. Then we are going to Macy's because they have a wedding extravaganza with free cake from vendors to try, photographers, makeup artists and more, maybe a few other things like trying a new breakfast place. I'll let you know how it goes!

Recipe i found but have not tried(yet!)
http://eatair.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-tsos-seitan.html

Toodles~!
-Amber

Wedding Planning

Babbles, & A Recipe!
Though my wedding planning is recent, i still find myself running around trying to get things going. He proposed in a sweet way, after our cats tried to ruin his plan by finding and pulling down the rings hiding spot- under his drawing table. :-p
Our parents approved fully, and happily. Which i was not expecting. But very happy to have received. Since our wedding is tentatively June 26th, 2009 that leaves me about 9 months to plan. Most brides to be have at least a year! But we decided on that date for several reasons.. our anniversary is June 23rd and we wanted it to be close to that date. We could have done it before but then we would be encroaching on our birthdays.(mine is the 19th, his is the 22nd) Also we are moving in Late July out of state so i can go to Graduate School for Art therapy. Not sure where yet, but it adds the other problem... Money.... If only money did not matter in this world.. but then again everyone would die because no one would have any reason to do anything! (hypothetically of course)
So this creates the biggest problem.... Money..... All weddings, and Moves Out of state need it.
I am currently working at a five and dime
Yes that is my store, it is unfortunately going out of business the end of September, and going to school full time. Making enough to pay the bills, and minor other things.
My fiancee is currently working at an art store, and doing freelance art for people. So he is making more then me but still not enough to have a big wedding.

Additionally, my mom has agreed to help but we still are posed a problem of low budget large guest list(we have a lot of family) we are up to 230 people, and those are just the ones we can think of. We also have come up with a food list, and a possible location but there is still so much to do, i have not looked at dresses, or a whole lot of other stuff. So i have a bumpy road ahead, but that is okay, i love a challenge:D
Recipe Time: (note i am a student, and this is pretty tasty)
This Is Vegan!


Items-
Sauce pot- preferably non stick
Spoon(my last recipe used a wooden one which my dog ate, seriously)
6 slices or about a 1/4 of the block-use vegan cheese- Cheddar flavor, you can mix em'
1 cup soy milk- vanilla or plain
1/4 cup tofutti plain cream cheese, or onion that would be tasty!
1 tablespoon Curry, or more if you LOVE curry
1 tablespoon mixed seasonings of your choosing i use mccormick season-all has nutmeg and a ton of other spices like 25:)
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup macaroni- or other pasta we arent picky! ( i used left over from the night before)

Boil pasta, or microwave for 5-10 minutes not sure exact time.
Put soy milk in pan, let it simmer, toss in cheese, let it melt, toss in the cream cheese, let that melt toss in seasonings, toss in cooked pasta mix in cheese.
Serve & Enjoy!

Everything

So i have a few other blogs that i started, but then once i got going on it i realized that i had restricted myself. Let me introduce myself.
My name is Amber, i am 22 years old, i live in Ypsilanti, Michigan. I am currently going to school at the local college, my major is psychology and my minor is art. I am applying for graduate school in a few months and i want to be an art therapist. I just got engaged the beginning of this month, and am scheduled to be married to my love of 3 1/2 years on June 26th, 2009.(still tentative)
In a nut shell i have a lot going on...

I love comics, food, art, psychology, trends, celebrities, going green, my quest for becoming a vegan, biking, nature, food network, baking cupcakes, trying new things, trying to be get fit, opening peoples eyes to things they never would have thought of, loving my kitties, and singular pooch. In December i found out that i have a blood disorder, i have a high clotablity factor they call it Lupus Anticoagulant, i don't have lupus but i have "sticky blood". I am on blood thinners, and will be life long, the only problem is i have to make my vitamin K consistent. Vitamin k is in so many things, leafy greens, green veggies, a few fruits such as vitamin k, and some things you would not even think of. So alot of vegan/vegetarian recipes have broccoli, kale, lettuce, spinich, asparagus, and as much as i would love to use these in every recipe i can't. So i am getting used to this idea of having to watch what i throw in my dish, and what i eat aside from not getting meat. I have been enjoying trying to open my fiancee's eyes to new foods, he is really picky because he has textural problems, so i keep trying to get him to try new stuff. I got him to eat soy sauce, switch from strawberry yogurt to boston cream pie yogurt fat free, eating quaker cheddar rice circles, versus cheese puffs big difference in fat, i have even gotten him to like vegan butter, and not hating vegan cream cheese, he loves all of my vegan cupcakes.:) He's a work in progress.

Anyways this will be about a range from fighting with my docs on meds-cooking-controlling my vitamin k- wedding planning and more.

-Amber