Tim_Riggins
1. I'm ready to buy my first pair of cowboy boots as a Texas resident.  I'm thinking color.

2. I'm going to phase my addiction to Splenda.  So far, I have used sugar in one glass of iced tea.  I think that's pretty good for this week.

3. Taylor Kitsch is hot.  I'm crossing my fingers that he is as hot in the two movies he has coming out as he was in Friday Night Lights, although there is a great chance that much of his hotness factor had to do with how endearing his character Tim Riggins was.

4. I still don't like pants.  A few dreadfully cold and wet days spent outside caused me to done a pair of jeans.  Ick.

5.  Great sales men get you to buy a pair of running shoes double the prices you planned on spending, and make you not regret it.

6. Baking with friends is more fun than alone...especially if you have opposite skills and work well as a team....i.e. you bake and they decorate and create the best mini rainbow cupcakes ever!

7.  New workout videos make you sweat more than ones you've done over and over.

8. Don't park near lawns.  Weed wackers can fling rocks at your car and break taillight covers.

9. Although smoothies still don't feel as though they are a meal, if you add protein they can keep you going for a few hours.

10. Photos on the internet can be deceiving, especially with interiors.  Always look at a place in person, be it a house to buy or a wedding venue...the reality may surprise you.

 

Here is my first attempt at a video from the Manic Trout studio!  A peek at the progress on the upcoming Bridal Line.  Please excuse the learning curve here as its the first try.

Hope you like it!

p.s. if you cannot see the video, click here to watch it on youtube.

 

DecayedGreatHallI have a thing for decayed buildings and spaces.  They are romantic and beautiful in a twisted type of way.  Today it started out sunny and bright but turned rainy and gray as my day became busier and filled with things I needed to do and yet stress me out.   No matter how nice laundry and sweeping my apartment are once done and how gross it is when they are not, they never seem seem like a good use of my time.   So now as I sit at my desk, listening to the rain and preparing to work into the late hours of the night, I feel that beautiful decay is what is making me the most inspired.

On a less dismal note...yesterday ended up being such a lovely Sunday, all the plans I had were wonderful and I got to end the day doing two of my favorite things...making jewelry for the upcoming bridal line and writing the weekly blog post with Adam.  Maybe there's hope for my least favorite day yet!

 

BlackGrapesThere was an extremely slow and yet methodical stock boy bogarting the red grapes at the HEB when I stupidly went there during the after work rush yesterday.  I tried to get around him and just grab a bag, but he stepped in my path and glared at me.  So I shopped for the rest of my produce to give the kid some time to finish up and came back a few minutes later.  I waited.  He was still re-stuffing, re-twisting, re-organizing...come on man, there is a line forming!  There seriously were a cluster of us watching him, waiting to jump in at the moment of his departure, when some blessed soul asked the kid for some help elsewhere.  The guy in front of me leaped forward and I swear fondled every. single. bag. of. grapes.  At this point I didn't even want red grapes anymore and instead grabbed a bag of seedless black grapes just so I could move it along.  I snacked on a few as I was washing them last night and quickly remembered how AWESOME perfect black grapes were...WINNING!

 

TracksToNowhereThat's the positive spin I am putting on my brake light that kept turning itself back on the last few days until it drained my battery and I had to get a very pricey new one delivered to my house.  At the same time that I noticed my dead car, I realized that when you park under certain trees in Texas when it rains, they cover your car in sap.  Yuck.  After a 3 hour venture to find a car wash open in the rain and grocery shopping during the busiest time of day I came home in need of calm repetitive motions.  So I reduced all prices on Sample Sale and Last Chance Sale jewelry.  We're talking 60% - 75% off the original prices here!  Take a few minutes to browse through the sales and take advantage of my stressful day...stock your gift closet for the upcoming season of needing last minute gifts or just buy yourself something pretty...because you're awesome and have most likely had a bad day recently as well.

 

WoodPileWhen I get on a really good roll in the studio I just want to keep going, pausing only to eat, sleep, walk the dog, maybe exercise a bit.  And that's about it.  This is the first time in a few years that I don't have to stop for a day job...so I have just been holed up in my studio for days and days on end...immersed in getting ready for the holiday insanity.  Before you get all worried that I am a recluse or something, understand that I have taken breaks for dinners out and errand running.  I also thank my lucky stars that I have found someone who not only gets this need I have, but travels a lot so I'm free to go and go without sacrificing any one's feelings.

So I was lying in bed at 4 in the morning last night...wide awake...thinking about the next two months which is both my crazy season for Manic Trout and now a time where I have to travel a great deal over the holidays.  Which brings up a new slew of new stressful decisions like should I take Faye on the plane with me when I go back East for the Christmas or leave her at a boarders?  Is three nights away for Thanksgiving an insane idea considering how stressed out I am that weekend.  Should I just ship our stuff to my moms a week before we leave Christmas week so nothing gets lost during our flight? You know, the typical stuff that keeps you wide awake at night.  Please tell me I'm not the only one!

So this morning, when I was going over the notes I made in my phone in the middle of the night and telling Adam for 20 minutes on the phone the pros and cons of the two dog boarding places that I found on yelp at 3:30am I started to think about my go, go, going.  I wonder if I am going full speed ahead simply because there is so much to do, or is it that if I'm not going full speed ahead that I will feel like I won't be prepared for the busy time ahead and must be in the zone...kind of like jumping into a game of double dutch?  Then I realized that I was of course over thinking the thinking and perhaps I should ease up on the caffeine and eat something.  But really...I may be onto something here...

 

I have had to resist the urge to curl up in a ball and go to sleep for about every second of the past few days.  Before I moved to Austin I kept telling people that I would have a day job again because when I don't I tend to spiral into pits of depression when I hole up in my studio alone for too many days on end and I need to force myself to get out and do things.  But then I got here and had a chance to really focus on Manic Trout and taking it to the next level.  Which is awesome...until I start to spiral.  Ugh.  I have a ton to do though to get ready for the holiday season...do you realize how close Christmas is??? Yeah, we won't go there right now.

Right now I am focusing on getting inventory to at least a normal level and making sure all my ducks are in a row.  And Advertising.  I hate creating Ads.  In the past, I have had others do a few for me...but I have a bit of an advertising background and the skills to do it...and all the stuff is right in front of me...so I'm doing it.  But I don't like it.  This may be some of the spiral inducing matter in my life right now.  Must. Resist. Curling. Into. Ball.

On a random side note...I have the heat on, in TEXAS!  It feels so indulgent!  It also was about 55 in my apartment when I got up this morning and that is no bueno!  Its kind of amusing how heat works here in the south...it comes out of the ceiling vents...which are put there to make cooling the place down a quick task, but let me tell you, I am so happy that I ignored the scoffs and brought my ll bean sheep skin "wicked good slippers" with me, because the bare floors are FREEZING here when its cold (ahem, under 65 out)!  Brrrrrrr.

 

Autumn PathwayThe last two days have been finally feeling like fall here in Austin...I am wearing a SWEATER!!  I was a bit sad when we came back from the cool temps of Colorado last week and it was down right hot here.  I also got sick...which is now not so bad as the weather plummeted to 50 and I'm sure I would have ended up sick anyway.  At least this way I'm already halfway over it.  and rambling.  So anyway...I'm all excited about fall and sweaters, slippers...blankets on the couch and Thea texts me a photo of her front yard covered in snow.  Which was when I realized that I never get to see the first snow of the year fall on the leaves and all of that magical and beautiful stuff anymore.  I was sad.  However, this morning I woke up to a text from my mom.  It snowed in Millbrook last night.  A month earlier then normal.  They are expecting an ice storm this weekend...

Wow, its amazing how quickly you can get over missing something! AND I can run around outside nice in toasty in a sweater.

 

ChairInACornerToday was an example of the kind of day that makes you want to jump up and down while both screaming and pulling out your hair in frustration.  Today was the day that I attempted to legally become a Texan, or something like that.  I blame it all on the Post Office.

Did you know that you cannot forward a PO Box used for Business mail to a residence?  I did not know that until I tried when I got down here...fine, so I will get a PO Box here.  Well you cannot do that unless you show either your Texas ID with your Texas address or a copy of your lease.  Crap.

So a month later, now that I finally have my lease I figure its time to go and get a Texas Driver's License.  *Side note...my NY License was set to expire right  before I left and after investigation I discovered that if I did not have a valid out of state license, I would have to take the DRIVING EXAM in Texas.  Ha!  like I'd let that happen...which meant I had to renew my NY license for 8 years and pay $80...yeah that thrilled me!

So anyway, I went to get my license today and finding the place was a misson in itself as there is not a DMV here...its all in separate buildings all over the city. The woman at the help desk of the ID office finally stopped flirting with the guy ahead of me, after glaring at me for standing in line and therefore having to let him walk away...although she did yell after him asking him where he worked so she could visit!  Anyway I told her why I was there and she said that in order to get a license, I would need a bunch of stuff.

Alright, I said I was ready for that, what did I need?  Valid out of state license...check!  Passport...check!  SS Card...check!  Birth Certificate (are you kidding me..all 4???)...but wait...check!  And I swear she smirked before asking for the last thing...Registration and Insurance for my car...check!  Oh no, not for NY...it has to be for Texas FIRST.

Are you KIDDING ME????  I got in the car, called Adam and burst into tears.  I went home and composed myself...researched every single thing I was trying to get, the order I needed to get them in and what I needed to get them.  So tomorrow when I go to the PO, I will have 4 types of ID and my signed lease.  Then I will proceed with all of this to the place where I can reister my car...and then call the insurance.  After all of that I am hoping that I have enough paperwork under my belt to obtain my license.

When all that is through I might just have enough energy left to start to tackle the paperwork for changing a business to a new state but I seem to need all of the first items to even begin with that...isn't moving great?

 

ColumnRuins
I like a good schedule.  I should say that I really, REALLY  like having a schedule for Manic Trout.  I may be flexible with some parts of it, but I'm pretty rigid with my days from week to week.  Having a schedule keeps me sane.  For a little over a month, I have had no schedule...and for that matter, no home and no studio.  It's been making me a bit crazy, but I somehow have managed to survive it with minimal meltdowns and freak outs.  I am very proud of myself for this.  And you know what?  I get to move in tomorrow!!! The POD is en route to my new home...10am tomorrow I can pick up my keys, carry in my furniture and set up my new space.  As soon as I'm all set up, you can bet that I will be sitting down and figuring the Manic Trout schedule, Austin edition.  Yay!

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