The Life Update
Dec. 10th, 2012 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sihayadesignsAaaaaah, finally a weekend where I could come out of the studio and take a breather! An eventful weekend, still.
Husband & Date Weekend
Jason has been doing well, aside from fending off a cold that I am trying valiantly to not also acquire. After a month of nonstop work (and not much quality time), date night and spending the weekend together has made me very happy. Friday night, we went to Midnight Madness in Ellicott City. It lived up to its name. It was total craziness. Took us 45 minutes just to park, and every shop we browsed was packed elbow to elbow. It was our first year-- next year maybe we'll make a point to get there quite early, take advantage of the free wine and cocktails, and generally be less overwhelmed by OMG ALL THE STUFF.
Saturday, we went to the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish market in Hunt Valley for brunch, and shopped about for tasty cheese (smoked horseradish) and tasty jam (strawberry rhubarb) and basically tasty everything. From there, we went to Valley View Farms, which again was packed elbow-to-elbow, but we made it out with an armload of little wicker bird ornaments for our tree. We had family time with Jason's people, and came home exhausted.
Today, we returned to Ellicott City so I could buy the cool poncho-sweater from Vintage Bliss Boutique that I'd seen during the Madness, but the line at the register had been far too ridiculous to contemplate purchasing anything. It's basically like a hug in sweater form, and I adore it. Anyway--really adorable little store, one of my new favorites. The whole place is basically Christina-bait. Glittery, glittery, Christina-bait.
From there, after a quick trip to Bean Hollow for coffee and sandwiches, we had to make a pit stop at Home Depot for supplies to finish our holiday decorating. Afterwards, we met up with my brother Daniel to see Lincoln. Verdict: fine acting and a slightly overlong but effective screenplay, but omg, how was there a 2 1/2 hour movie about the passage of the 13th Amendment without ever once mentioning Frederick Douglass? How and/or why was that a thing that happened?
Tree goes up tomorrow. In related news, we have decided not to go anywhere Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day. Ever since I was a little girl, I have found Christmas day to be very stressful. I have never in my life had one single Christmas where I was not a) shuttled from place to place while my parents either bickered over whose turn it was to have me, or b) had to hustle about to try to fit both families in as an adult, PLUS an addition of Jason's family. So this year, after a particularly stressful and un-restful December, we are going to have a Christmas for two. (Well, five if you count the cats.) We are going to sleep in, we are going to cuddle on the couch, we are going to make hot chocolate, we are going to cook a spectacular meal together, and we're going to do a movie marathon. But absolutely under no circumstances other than medical emergencies will we be leaving our cozy little nest. I am feeling very good about this decision.
Cats:
Cats are good. Nothing particularly noteworthy here. We fiiiiiiinally got Nox back to eating his regular portion, and mostly without us having to sit next to him the entire time. Some switch got flipped when we were traveling late in summer, and when we came back, he refused to eat unless we were sitting next to him. If we wandered away to do this or that, he would come and meow at us all panicky until we came back and sat down next to him. Very weird, but he's finally getting over it, whatever it was. Mim has actually lost some weight and is no longer football-shaped. She's looking pretty great, actually. Olive is Olive, still loudmouthed and bossy.
Work:
Vended twice in the last week. Did fairly well both times. Am loving my new Square credit card reader. Am now entertaining the idea of more shows in the beginning part of 2013, and will be applying to Spoutwood once I get the whole show insurance thing figured out. That will be a major undertaking, and if I end up doing that show, there are good chances that I will have to hire part-time help to make enough wings, and then again to man my booth.
I've been contemplating the future of Sihaya Designs. I'm at the point where I am getting sufficient interest where it's too much work for one person, but I'm unsure if I'm willing or able to hire someone else. If I did, I would have to greatly streamline my offerings-- I'd more or less be focusing exclusively on labradorite wirework and wings, with greatly scaled-back seasonal collections and occasional and limited resin and recycled fine silver collections. I would probably have less time for experimentation, which is one of my favorite parts of what I do. But doing those things would allow for more brand growth and frankly, a more financially stable business. Experimentation does not come cheap. The other option is raising prices, which I've only been doing to keep current with the rising costs of metals. But if my work (or at least, certain parts of it) continues to grow in demand, my prices may have to rise as well, because I simply can't keep up, and I've been so far past bone tired lately that I've been actively scraping marrow.
I'm on the precipice of change, but I am not sure just what yet. I am going to give it a few more months... my traditionally busiest season is ending, so I want to give it time to settle before I do anything drastic. Additionally, Kythryne of Wyrding Studios and I have been bandying about doing a collaboration, and I think that will be quite fun.
Update: pt 2 will hopefully go up by the end of the coming week. I have more ornaments (actually, considering getting those up ASAP for time), and will be restocking Enchanted Snowflakes, Lucky Cranes, and the fine silver pieces that survived vending.
Retail Therapy and Other Fripperies:
Oh lord, every beauty item I have purchased in the last month or so has been A++. I am LOVING the Kat Von D foundation. With unnaturally-colored hair, I really have to have a blank canvas to work on, because any ruddiness or flush in my skin will be over-emphasized, and I get quite red around my nose. This stuff has AMAZING pigmentation without feeling heavy at all-- one pump the size of a pea, and I'm covered. It wears like a dream. I haven't used concealer in a month. Seriously, I will buy this as long as they make it. I'm sold. Holy grail foundation. Better than MUFE HD. THE BOMB, IS WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU.
Also hearting the MUFE Holodiam Powder in Plum, which appears to already have disappeared from Sephora. It was an LE product, not sure if it will be back. It's basically a duochrome micro-fine glitter that makes my eyeshadow a billionty times prettier. It's sheer, but adds gorgeous turquoisey shimmer, so I have been using it lots over purple shadows. I use my Eye Kandy Liquid Sugar and that works well. I prefer it to some of the thicker glitter glues out there, because I can paint it on very thinly and still have no fall-out.
I am also still loving my YSL Glossy Stain. It's gotten me through long days of vending with minimal touch ups. When not vending but still out and about, I've been wearing the hell out of my Revlon Colorbust Lip Balm in Sugar Plum. I seem to be in a mauve phase.
Another product I've been using a lot is the Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner, which I got full sized (in purple) in a previous Birchbox. I was initially kinda meh about it, but turns out it looks fantastic with my new hair. I really like the felt-tipped applicator, so I'm considering buying it in black and turquoise. Well, at least black, as it can't be used on the waterline, and that's where I like a pop of color. When I get through my current teal (Mary Kay-- love the color, meh about the formula), I might try one of the Urban Decay ones, but I'm undecided. But as far as the Eyeko goes, if you're a liquid liner girl, this is the best formula I've tried yet. If you're NOT a liquid liner girl but would like to be, this is the easiest to master applicator out there.
There have been two changes to my beauty routine of late: one is that I finally bought a hair dryer, and have been wearing my hair pin-straight of late. I actually like it-- with a little bit of heat-protectant balm, it's shinier and softer than it's been in ages. Plus it really extends the time between shampoos-- I don't tend to get oily as fast, so I shampoo every three days or so. I've been wearing my hair up in sort of a rockabilly-style volumized ponytail a lot, and getting lots of compliments on it. Add a couple of colored clip-ins from Miss Violet Lace, and it looks extra-awesome.
The other change is that I started penciling in my brows to coordinate with my hair. It really does bring my whole look together. Right now, I'm using a Rimmel eyeliner in Purple Shock to color them in, and it's kinda crap as an eyeliner, but PERFECT for my brows (plus only $3). I top it off with a little bit of clear brow mascara from Chantecaille that I got basically free from Birchbox, and it sets until I take it off.
Looking forward to December's Birchbox, which will decide if I keep or dump them, and I am also going to get the December Popsugar box to try out, since I've been on the fence about it but recent boxes have been lovely.
Nails are going to be their own post. My nail polish collection is a biiiiiiit out of control.
Okay. Bedtime. Very sleepy!
Husband & Date Weekend
Jason has been doing well, aside from fending off a cold that I am trying valiantly to not also acquire. After a month of nonstop work (and not much quality time), date night and spending the weekend together has made me very happy. Friday night, we went to Midnight Madness in Ellicott City. It lived up to its name. It was total craziness. Took us 45 minutes just to park, and every shop we browsed was packed elbow to elbow. It was our first year-- next year maybe we'll make a point to get there quite early, take advantage of the free wine and cocktails, and generally be less overwhelmed by OMG ALL THE STUFF.
Saturday, we went to the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish market in Hunt Valley for brunch, and shopped about for tasty cheese (smoked horseradish) and tasty jam (strawberry rhubarb) and basically tasty everything. From there, we went to Valley View Farms, which again was packed elbow-to-elbow, but we made it out with an armload of little wicker bird ornaments for our tree. We had family time with Jason's people, and came home exhausted.
Today, we returned to Ellicott City so I could buy the cool poncho-sweater from Vintage Bliss Boutique that I'd seen during the Madness, but the line at the register had been far too ridiculous to contemplate purchasing anything. It's basically like a hug in sweater form, and I adore it. Anyway--really adorable little store, one of my new favorites. The whole place is basically Christina-bait. Glittery, glittery, Christina-bait.
From there, after a quick trip to Bean Hollow for coffee and sandwiches, we had to make a pit stop at Home Depot for supplies to finish our holiday decorating. Afterwards, we met up with my brother Daniel to see Lincoln. Verdict: fine acting and a slightly overlong but effective screenplay, but omg, how was there a 2 1/2 hour movie about the passage of the 13th Amendment without ever once mentioning Frederick Douglass? How and/or why was that a thing that happened?
Tree goes up tomorrow. In related news, we have decided not to go anywhere Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day. Ever since I was a little girl, I have found Christmas day to be very stressful. I have never in my life had one single Christmas where I was not a) shuttled from place to place while my parents either bickered over whose turn it was to have me, or b) had to hustle about to try to fit both families in as an adult, PLUS an addition of Jason's family. So this year, after a particularly stressful and un-restful December, we are going to have a Christmas for two. (Well, five if you count the cats.) We are going to sleep in, we are going to cuddle on the couch, we are going to make hot chocolate, we are going to cook a spectacular meal together, and we're going to do a movie marathon. But absolutely under no circumstances other than medical emergencies will we be leaving our cozy little nest. I am feeling very good about this decision.
Cats:
Cats are good. Nothing particularly noteworthy here. We fiiiiiiinally got Nox back to eating his regular portion, and mostly without us having to sit next to him the entire time. Some switch got flipped when we were traveling late in summer, and when we came back, he refused to eat unless we were sitting next to him. If we wandered away to do this or that, he would come and meow at us all panicky until we came back and sat down next to him. Very weird, but he's finally getting over it, whatever it was. Mim has actually lost some weight and is no longer football-shaped. She's looking pretty great, actually. Olive is Olive, still loudmouthed and bossy.
Work:
Vended twice in the last week. Did fairly well both times. Am loving my new Square credit card reader. Am now entertaining the idea of more shows in the beginning part of 2013, and will be applying to Spoutwood once I get the whole show insurance thing figured out. That will be a major undertaking, and if I end up doing that show, there are good chances that I will have to hire part-time help to make enough wings, and then again to man my booth.
I've been contemplating the future of Sihaya Designs. I'm at the point where I am getting sufficient interest where it's too much work for one person, but I'm unsure if I'm willing or able to hire someone else. If I did, I would have to greatly streamline my offerings-- I'd more or less be focusing exclusively on labradorite wirework and wings, with greatly scaled-back seasonal collections and occasional and limited resin and recycled fine silver collections. I would probably have less time for experimentation, which is one of my favorite parts of what I do. But doing those things would allow for more brand growth and frankly, a more financially stable business. Experimentation does not come cheap. The other option is raising prices, which I've only been doing to keep current with the rising costs of metals. But if my work (or at least, certain parts of it) continues to grow in demand, my prices may have to rise as well, because I simply can't keep up, and I've been so far past bone tired lately that I've been actively scraping marrow.
I'm on the precipice of change, but I am not sure just what yet. I am going to give it a few more months... my traditionally busiest season is ending, so I want to give it time to settle before I do anything drastic. Additionally, Kythryne of Wyrding Studios and I have been bandying about doing a collaboration, and I think that will be quite fun.
Update: pt 2 will hopefully go up by the end of the coming week. I have more ornaments (actually, considering getting those up ASAP for time), and will be restocking Enchanted Snowflakes, Lucky Cranes, and the fine silver pieces that survived vending.
Retail Therapy and Other Fripperies:
Oh lord, every beauty item I have purchased in the last month or so has been A++. I am LOVING the Kat Von D foundation. With unnaturally-colored hair, I really have to have a blank canvas to work on, because any ruddiness or flush in my skin will be over-emphasized, and I get quite red around my nose. This stuff has AMAZING pigmentation without feeling heavy at all-- one pump the size of a pea, and I'm covered. It wears like a dream. I haven't used concealer in a month. Seriously, I will buy this as long as they make it. I'm sold. Holy grail foundation. Better than MUFE HD. THE BOMB, IS WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU.
Also hearting the MUFE Holodiam Powder in Plum, which appears to already have disappeared from Sephora. It was an LE product, not sure if it will be back. It's basically a duochrome micro-fine glitter that makes my eyeshadow a billionty times prettier. It's sheer, but adds gorgeous turquoisey shimmer, so I have been using it lots over purple shadows. I use my Eye Kandy Liquid Sugar and that works well. I prefer it to some of the thicker glitter glues out there, because I can paint it on very thinly and still have no fall-out.
I am also still loving my YSL Glossy Stain. It's gotten me through long days of vending with minimal touch ups. When not vending but still out and about, I've been wearing the hell out of my Revlon Colorbust Lip Balm in Sugar Plum. I seem to be in a mauve phase.
Another product I've been using a lot is the Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner, which I got full sized (in purple) in a previous Birchbox. I was initially kinda meh about it, but turns out it looks fantastic with my new hair. I really like the felt-tipped applicator, so I'm considering buying it in black and turquoise. Well, at least black, as it can't be used on the waterline, and that's where I like a pop of color. When I get through my current teal (Mary Kay-- love the color, meh about the formula), I might try one of the Urban Decay ones, but I'm undecided. But as far as the Eyeko goes, if you're a liquid liner girl, this is the best formula I've tried yet. If you're NOT a liquid liner girl but would like to be, this is the easiest to master applicator out there.
There have been two changes to my beauty routine of late: one is that I finally bought a hair dryer, and have been wearing my hair pin-straight of late. I actually like it-- with a little bit of heat-protectant balm, it's shinier and softer than it's been in ages. Plus it really extends the time between shampoos-- I don't tend to get oily as fast, so I shampoo every three days or so. I've been wearing my hair up in sort of a rockabilly-style volumized ponytail a lot, and getting lots of compliments on it. Add a couple of colored clip-ins from Miss Violet Lace, and it looks extra-awesome.
The other change is that I started penciling in my brows to coordinate with my hair. It really does bring my whole look together. Right now, I'm using a Rimmel eyeliner in Purple Shock to color them in, and it's kinda crap as an eyeliner, but PERFECT for my brows (plus only $3). I top it off with a little bit of clear brow mascara from Chantecaille that I got basically free from Birchbox, and it sets until I take it off.
Looking forward to December's Birchbox, which will decide if I keep or dump them, and I am also going to get the December Popsugar box to try out, since I've been on the fence about it but recent boxes have been lovely.
Nails are going to be their own post. My nail polish collection is a biiiiiiit out of control.
Okay. Bedtime. Very sleepy!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 12:50 pm (UTC)"Fripperies" - I learned a new word this morning. Yay!
I agree on the whole Christmas thing; some of my best "adult" Christmas days were doing just that with my sigoth and/or close friends. Sooo much less stress and able to simply kick back and "enjoy." Super awesome dexterity bonus points for those type of Christmases when it's snowing and/or there's already 4' of snow outside when we get up --- which only reinforces the feelgood nature of hibernating that day.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 04:02 pm (UTC)Sarah and I SO long to spend a Yule season at home, but it's never happened and likely won't happen in the foreseeable future. My family is too spread out and far away. But we still like to daydream about it. I hope you have the coziest and happiest holiday at home!
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 09:01 pm (UTC)& I hope you have a very relaxing holiday season from here on out. :D
What colored clip-ins do you have? I've been swooning over Miss Violet Lace's stuff for months now, but have yet to buy anything.
I can't wait to see your nails post. I'm a bit obsessed as well, and have quite the unhealthy collection of polishes. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-11 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-11 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-12 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-04 01:03 am (UTC)