Almost there

Let me get this off my chest: yes, I started singing the Disney song immediately after I typed that.

Locally we've now got an allotted 100 days paid maternity leave but I voluntarily gave myself eight weeks off before setting myself up to work again just so I don't go crazy here at home. In a funny way it still works out as 100 days of maternity leave for me since my leave started in October (I was active with our business work until the final week prior to giving birth), ends at the end of November, but then December = Christmas stuff so I'll actually be working officially by January.

It works out well, hahaha!

Girl Crushes

I realised just now that some of my girl crushes are moms. Maybe as a high school student, I was right about what I said to one of my friends: that we get girl crushes on women we aspire to be like. The term itself is rather funny especially at this point where there are all sorts of gender preference variations. Believe me when I say I don't mean to be insulting/demeaning/whatever you wish to say about it, but by this point, it all confuses me so since it's not the central for this post, I shall stick to what I already have down and leave the gender discussions off for another time.

Girl crushes. I suppose this can be taken to mean a heterosexual girl's way of expressing a certain level of admiration for another female but in a completely non-sexual way. At least, that's what I've always seen it used as and that's how I'm using it now.

Work Modes

These have been the busiest two months I've ever had. We went from nursing our fledgling manufacturing business from birth to toddlerhood, to negotiating new businesses that we eventually decided not to support (oh it wasn't bad news for them that we withdrew though: both businesses are currently in the process of getting off the ground and we're very happy for them), and other involvements that we've had on the back burner for some years now.

It's been an amazing and incredible ride to be out and about but now I'm gearing up to take a back seat and work from home as media support for everything we have going on. I know it will likely drive me crazy to not be able to do much or go around as often but hey, what's a mom to a newborn to do, right? I guess I'll call it my maternity leave, hahaha.

Meantime I revert back to the home base duties of creating marketing materials and posting on social media. I did get quite good at that back then. I've almost completed my new work station, having installed all my necessary programs and pass times into my new laptop. All that's left is for me to retrieve the hard drive from my old computer so I can sort out the things I need to pull out from there.

I can't say how successful this transition will be but, we will manage.

My first shop front!

I have taken my third step and opened an online store!

I mentioned here that I do aim to work from home. Actually, make that build a personal empire from home. (Thank you, Ara Fernando, for the awesome idea of calling it that. An empire, I mean.)

Daily Thanks

That the desire to keep creating things in the kitchen has not waned.

My latest project involves this:

I can't say I'll be in the kitchen full time or even in full swing again, but I am happy enough with the fact that I'm slowly starting to find my way back to where I was before.

Everything in writing

Given how much of a scatter-brain I've been these last few months, and anticipating that I will be the same way for a good long while still, I have bought these:

The original Belle de Jour planner for my everyday things, the Everything is Possible planner for...well, my own plans. It's not yet been re-covered; I intend to cover it up in pretty wrapping paper as is typical of me, hahaha. And the Ideas Journal pad to stick into both planners for those little random things.

I mean, yeah, I'm a wife and mother...or will be a mother very soon...but I need to have some personal goals on the side too. ^_^

Weekend Work Retreat #3: Day One

I can't say I was thrilled we'd be working with children. I've mentioned before on this blog that I generally don't like children unless they are related to me (and even then, blood is a very tenuous link) or belong to my friends, making them as good as nieces/nephews/little cousins to me.

For one full work day I would be surrounded by children. Not only that, I had to interact with them.

From Scott Bourne: Improving Your Photography Without Buying Gear

I read this article thanks to a friend who's a professional photographer, Noel Salazar. You've heard me fangirl over his mad skillz before--otherwise we wouldn't have picked him to be our primary wedding photographer!

So because I aim to become a professional photographer at some point, some very important and enlightening things to take note of via photoresourcehub.com on Wordpress:

A while back my buddy, Scott Bourne wrote a post about ways to improve your photography without buying new gear.  New gear and the perceived correlation to improving your images is a monstrous myth, especially with relatively new photographers. I’ve heard so many times over the years, “If I only had better equipment…” as if it was the answer to every new photographer’s problems. (Keep reading here.)

I think I'm going to print out a copy of this post, or at least the points Scott Bourne made and I'm going to tack it on the office bulletin board just to keep myself on track.

Project WAHM Stage Two

It is now officially a life goal to be fully set up to be a Work-At-Home Mum or WAHM--thank you, Dainty Mom, for the term!--by the time my baby is a year old. That is my estimated time frame anyway since I've only just started working at picking out things I know I can do whilst (wiggle your toes if you also love using this rather archaic word!) managing the household and taking care of my family.

The first step I took was to apply for a freelance writing job. Wish me luck as I'm going through the final stages of application at the moment but I'm thinking positively and I believe I will pass. *crosses fingers*

Step two I took last Monday: I signed up to be a dealer for Human Nature.

Conversations #3: A back-log collection

After all that serious introspection, I thought I'd put in a little bit of a comedic break.

I've had these conversations with my husband saved to my mobile phone notes for a few months now but I kept forgetting to post them.

I hope these two exchanges will help lighten up someone's evening. Or day, depending on which timezone you're at. ^_^

Getting into Character

Let's open with the statement that I am not yet a proper actor. Not yet.

I've been told, however, that I can create very convincing characters.

Sometimes life just quiets down so much...

After Ireland things just suddenly feel so boring right now, haha.

Something that recent events here at home has brought to my attention is the fact that I seriously need to work on my personnel management skills. And perhaps, better screening for household personnel, especially since we put a major premium on trustworthiness in people who work for us.

This may be my last entry for the next three weeks

My husband and I will be flying to Ireland soon. This isn't just for our honeymoon. Actually--shh...don't tell him I said this--the more pressing matter at hand is that we're flying to Ireland for my best friend's wedding! Any other touristy thing achieved during the trip is purely collateral. ^_~

It's been a very stressful past month and at the risk of sharing too much information, my primary proof of the stresses of the past week is the fact that this month's cycle took nearly 40 days to complete. I didn't even realise it had been that long until I started counting.

Weekend Work Retreat #2: At First Sight

Any friend of mine will tell you with great certainty that I will not survive a real camping trip. I'm too spoiled and love my creature comforts too much to want to rough it. I can't even take a bath if there's no hot water. I freak out over insects and anything that falls under the category of either amphibians or reptiles. I consider 2"-high grass as "tall" because it's tall enough to hide any number of creatures among its blades.

So when an opportunity came to try out something close to camping but with a good balance of creature comforts (hello, restaurant-quality meals, flushing toilets and hot bath water), did I look forward to it?

Are you kidding me? Of course not!

Weekend Work Retreat #1: Introduction

Physical experiences can count quite a great deal towards life lesson analogies. I have the aching muscles to prove it.

I've never really been one to push myself to go beyond the boundaries I've set in my mind but this weekend has completely broken down all the walls and while I can't say that the walls no longer exist, I can at least go through them now instead of working around them.

Busy Bee

We are back to that again, yes. I am losing yet another weekend to work-related activities.

Mind, this is not precisely a complaint; it is a mere statement of fact.

Pooped

Seriously.

But I do want to share this before I crawl into bed: frogs aside, camping out is actually quite fun. One should never underestimate the beauty of the Lord's creation, no matter how fearful one is of creepy crawlers and hoppers.

Yesterday's adventure was truly a blessing.

The beauty of automation

Let's face it, hardly anyone who does a bazillion things each day of the week will ever still bother doing laundry by hand.

Admittedly, I feel guilty about this because clothes last longer and just feel ever so much more comfortable when they're done by hand. But I've chosen, rather than spend my time washing clothes that way, mechanical help would be welcome and if I need two dozen laundry bags to keep all the delicates safe from getting caught on other materials, by golly I will get two dozen laundry bags!

The day's events

It's the day after our return from the countryside. Nearly midnight and I'm sure my husband will be upset to find me awake still but one of my sisters needs me and I need to stay awake to hear her out.

We, my husband and I, spent yesterday morning on "field duties." That is, we went to visit and check on some rice fields and mango orchards belonging to our family.

Wow, that sounded fancier than it actually is!

Out of It

I'm a little sad that I've been too drained to write much the past nights but that's life now, isn't it? I'm doing my best to live up to my promise to myself, though, that I will write every night to help improve my personal writing voice.

That said, allow me to leave you with Sunday's reflection prayer (yes, it is different from the Bible quotes that are posted there on the right; we use different readings for our nightly prayers): "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."