Following your dreams..

I would just like to say right now that I am doing my best at living my dream and doing what makes me happy. Right now, I am persuing photography (here's my portfolio!). I got a desk job on campus about a month ago and it's great. It's a nice change of pace from working in a restaurant (I don't come home smelling like a kitchen!). Interviewed for another job before I got this job, and didn't get hired because I wouldn't be full time in the fall. Well, ended up they DO need me after all, so I'll be starting there this weekend - it's at a photography studio!

I've had a lot of photoshoots lately (and a LOT more coming up, since I got my new camera!). I have learned so much with every shoot.. here's what I've been up to lately (and there are tons more that haven't been released anywhere yet!) ;)

In chronological order, here's some of my pictures over the past month. - The first two are with my Fuji s8000fd bridge camera, the 3rd with my dad's Nikon D80, and the last with my brand new Canon Rebel XSi.. took it yesterday!

And if you're wondering about the perspective of my nephew with his helicopter, that was his brand new toy that he picked out when I was home - as a congratulations for finally "pooping in the potty"! Way to go, booger! I wanted a picture to 'commemorate the occasion', and thought this would be a funny way to remember that weekend. :)

Second post today?!

So I've been wanting so much to include some extra goodies in my packages to customers, but I just don't know where to begin or what to get! I added a poll on the right side column of this page, and I would appreciate it so much if you gave me some input!

If you have any suggestions, personal experiences, special requests, or anything to say please leave me a comment here. Or, if you'd like to include some of your own promo goodies in packages I ship out, I'd love to do a trade for them! (All I have right now are business cards though!)

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate you loyal readers! :)

Goodness gracious!

You know, I sure have been thinking about this blog lately, I just haven't updated.. it's been a MONTH! Wow. Sorry, guys and gals!

Well, what to even begin with? Things have been crazy. I've finished my spring semester, and I'm back for summer classes. My roommates have moved out and I'm in the apartment all by myself (weird!), so my mom has been yard saling like crazy and I have a fully stocked kitchen. Right on! I've been home a few times, and my two nephews and my sister's pregnant belly just keep getting bigger and bigger!

I have been really getting into expanding my photography skills and portfolio, and would love to get into the field professionally (or semi-pro, amateur, anything really!). I have done a few photoshoots for free with students here, getting ready to do lots more portraits and a few weddings, too! Ordered a new camera - a Canon Rebel XSi, and it's getting delivered today to my parents' house in Raleigh. Too bad I'm in Greenville! I made a portfolio page for myself, and I'll put a little link up here once I update it with pictures I've taken lately. :)


I promise I'll get back to posting here soon now! Though I'm not sure what the new route will be, since I have so many new things going on now! Two adorable nephews, another niece or nephew on the way, my boyfriend and I are moving in together (officially) in July, and OH! Did I mention? I have TWO new jobs! I'll save talking about that for tomorrow though. :)


Lots of sunshine, happiness, and love to you all!

Tag! I'm "it"!

I've been tagged by If I Had A Hammer. I'm sorry I haven't been blogging too much lately; Finals have finally arrived, so I've been going crazy the last few weeks.. They've started (for me) today! :(


8 things I'm looking forward to...

1. Hearing back from some of the jobs I've applied/interviewed for - Especially one at a photography studio in town.. ahh! :O)

2. Being FINISHED with exams.. 2 today, 1 Thursday, 1 Friday, and 1 next Tuesday.. the most exams I've ever had to take!

3. Going on some photography shoots with a few people I've been in contact with - yes, I took the jump and I'm testing the waters for paid photography. I'm SUPER nervous! (It's only $20 an hour, but I'm just hoping I'm good enough/worth the 20 bucks!)

4. Having enough money to afford an SLR by the end of the summer.. ideally now but I know that's not feasible while I'm jobless.

5. My sister having her baby in August.. I'm so excited for her!

6. Moving in with my boyfriend in July - we already pretty much live together but it will be for real in about 3 months!

7. The Strawberry Festival in Vanceboro, NC this saturday.. I hope there are strawberries!

8. Graduating college, beginning a career, and spending the rest of my life with my best friend.



8 things I did yesterday.

Let me say this weekend.. I didn't do much of anything yesterday but I did on Saturday!

1. Friday - Went on an interview at the photography studio and suuuuper anxious to hear back!

2. Saturday - woke up early.. who does that?!

3. Saturday - drove to the coast with my boyfriend. We ate amazing seafood at Capt. Bill's in Morehead City, NC. Awesome popcorn shrimp!

4. Saturday - Went to the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores; saw sharks, albino frogs, everything! It was great.

5. Saturday - Went to bed early and woke up early again on Sunday.. had an awesome lazy weekend!

6. Sunday - Had pizza for breakfast! But every time he or I have eaten it (including when we first got it for dinner on Friday) we've gotten stomach-aches.. guess we should throw it out, right?

7. Sunday - laid out by the pool with my roommate for a bit. Man, it was hot!

8. Sunday - Studied my butt of for two exams today. I hope I do well!



8 things I wish I could do.

1. Travel through time to skip through exams and things I don't want to do

2. Graduate. PRONTO!

3. Afford an SLR camera

4. Get on a regular workout routine. I hate that I can't fit into any of my skirts or shorts from last fall.. I don't know what happened. Maybe too much beer?

5. Control my eating. I never thought it was a problem, but it's got to be all my snacking if it's not the beer that's done this to me. I can't control what I eat or when I eat it, and I wish I could.

6. Get a freakin job.

7. Not let my emotions get the best of me sometimes.

8. I wish there was one thing I was awesome at.. I do a ton of different things that I can't excel or be great in. It's really annoying!



8 shows I watch.

1. 24

2. One Tree Hill

3. Greek

4. Family Guy

5. George Lopez

6. Full House

7. Fantasy Factory (with Rob Dyrdek! He is sooo funny)

8. Boyfriend has the remote all of the time, so insert all sports programs/video games ever created <> ha!



I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do it I'd love to read! This (surprisingly) took a long time to fill out.. it's hard to think of 8-things for everything! haha :)

New phone!

That's right, my friends. I've been clinging dearly to my previous phone for 2 1/2 years.. and have been through quite a few replacements (of the same model) due to it falling apart! Well, lucky for me, my dad's phone started to crack the week before Easter and he knew I was coming home.. so Happy Easter to me! :) (yeah, I know I'm super late about blogging about it.. but I was so excited I kind of forgot to brag a bit!)

Ready for the reveal?

Here's the old phone, all scratched and scuffed in its glory:

And the new phone!
It's the LG Banter, and it has awesome color and a full keyboard. I think my favorite part is that it shows the actualy conversation with the texting - every message to and from any particular number is grouped together and color coded for who-said-what.. and when you're done you can delete it ALL! :) Very nice.


Yeah! So that's my little post. These pics were taken with my dad's Nikon D80, and I absolutely love the clarity and aperture. It's amazing, and I'm suuuuuper jealous. Really wish I could afford an SLR (or the boyfriend would allow me to put one on credit!), but I guess the wait will make it better and I can find a super fabulous camera for cheaper maybe?


In any case, have a wonderful day! I know life has been much more exciting with this new phone.. it's something new to talk about and spend my time figuring out how to use!

What an honor!

Thank goodness for Google Alerts. They are really a gift!

I got an email yesterday, letting me know that "vinylrocksmyworld" had a hit on the internet. It was an article written by Laurie Grassi on StyleAtHome.com What an honor!


Laurie is the executive editor of Style At Home magazine and she was the guest curator for Etsy's The Storque yesterday. WOW!! You can read The Storque article HERE, and the (same) post on the Style At Home website HERE.

Needless to say, I am absolutely tickled to death! This totally made my year, and I am so excited to get the much-needed promotion right now. Sales have been depressingly slow since the Christmas rush.


Maybe this is a sign I really need to get on my guns and make some more listings! I have plenty of things that aren't up in my shop yet.. it's just a matter of taking the time to do it. You know what I mean? :)

I hope you all have a fantastic day! This weekend is going to be beauuutiful here!


Laurie mentioned in the blurb about my white vinyl bowl that she hopes I get more stock of the colored vinyl in.. I wish I could find more too! She said a number of people would be interested over at the magazine perhaps, and I know I would love to get some of that cool vinyl in. The white vinyl freaked me out (in a good way, though!) but I'm glad it sold on Tuesday. :)

Happy Easter!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I got a chance to go home this weekend and spend time with my family, and I really enjoyed it. Got to hang out with my nephews a ton - they're both growing up so much!

This was one of my favorite pictures of the day; my nephew hunted for easter eggs and I was trying to get him show me what he found.. this was his way of doing that!

I'm also entering this in this week's I ♥ Faces Easter/Spring contest as an amateur. I'm really happy with the way this picture turned out!

Head on over to check out some more entries, there are some really talented photographers - a lot of them are moms! (some even CRAFTY moms!) ;)

Have a lovely day, and don't forget about my 20% off sale in my etsy shop!

April 22nd is just around the corner - Annual Sale!

I'm celebrating having too much inventory and Earth Day, of course!

So I'm having a 20% off EVERYTHING sale! The end date for this is TBA (because even I don't know when I'll decide to end it) so that means get it on it now before it's too late!

Please include "WELOVEEARTHDAY" in Notes to Seller at checkout, and I'll send you an updated invoice or a refund. Order soon, and you'll have your goodies before Earth Day so you can party in style! (You are having a party, right?!)

These are some Earth Friendly lookin' labels in my shop now that would be PERFECT for your party! (sorry for the shameless plug.. but this is my blog, right?) :)

(Click pictures for direct link to the listings!)

So mark your calendars.. April 22nd is the big day! - Earth Day, that is!

Live GREEN and Rock On,

Haha, Gotcha!

So most everyone caught on that it was an April Fool's joke I played on you! (I know.. not very nice!) ;)

However, a lot of that is truth! I am super busy with classes and I'm having a hard time catching up on my blogging. I do have a ridiculous amount of craft stuff and inventory that I need to get rid of, and I am a little tired of not getting any sales. But there are ways around this!

Stay tuned tomorrow morning for an extra special surprise! :)

I quit!!

As most of you know, I've been pretty slow for the past few weeks on updating the blog and listing new items.. Well, this semester is kicking my butt and I've got to get a job to keep paying for groceries (Etsy just isn't cutting it anymore!) It's really hard to keep up with everything that I'm doing with my e-business along with being a full time student (with lots of extracurriculars), full time girlfriend, and keeping up with all the other stuff I'm doing (like volunteering at the Humane Society!). Plus, I'll be graduating next spring and better get out there in the job market while I've still got that college edge!

So I've decided I'll take my sanity first and quit the biz. No more blogging responsibilities, no more etsy shop, not more CRATES UPON CRATES of record bowls/albums/records that I'm just never going to sell. Half my room is filled with crap craft supplies that I'll never use that just takes up space. I'm tired of having so many extra responsibilities! I'm always so stressed out and realized lately that I'm living on my computer all day and night. It's a sick obsession!

So all those record bowls, mail organizers, and other stuff that I've made? Well, this is what I've been doing today. They've met their maker with a hot pink hammer.

The rest of them will be used as practice targets for my shooting range friends or placed around campus as decorative sculptures or something. Or maybe now my frisbee friends have an endless supply of stuff to throw since they lose their frisbees all the time in the trees!

Oh well. Moving all of my stuff this week. Wonder if vinyl recycles?



Anywho, I hope you all have a nice April Fool's - I mean April 1st --- I MEAN SPRING!! :O)