Time wasters

Yay. Today was the last of the doctor appointments. Well, it was actually the dentist but they are doctors afterall. I've been really bad about flossing so a few days before the appointment, I floss diligently and hope they don't ask me about it. I was told I have healthy gums and everything looks great. Whew. I got a new crown put in and was good to go. This counted as my outing for the day. Sad. LOL.

I've been procrastinating about the website. What did I do when I was procrastinating? Reading forums about the show 24. I've never done this but I've gotten obsessed with the show and I wanted to be with like company. There's only another 6 episodes left so then I won't need to do that anymore. Alias has started its last season tonight. It was once a good show, hopefully the final season will be good.

I know it doesn't seem like it, but I swear I'm busy.

I love Target but...

they kill me sometimes. I'm gonna get depressed for a minute here. I went to Target for last minute Easter stuff and I perused their card section. Normally I kind of avoid it but some cute cards with fabric on it caught my eye. They have some of the most adorable cards! There's tons that look really elaborate if you were to do it by hand, and they were all reasonably priced. *sigh* Awhile ago I would've felt why do I bother making cards. But now I just think: mine are cute too and I'm not aspiring to be in Target. :)

At least with greeting cards there's not a huge price gap between chain store cards and boutique/indie design type cards. Most of the time, the price difference is a few dollars. Sure, there's cards out there for $50 a card, but that's so few. It's not like fashion where a dress could be $20 in a chain store versus $500 by a designer. Yikes.

Anyway, today my mom has the day off so she watched Little J. I wish I was able to do more creative stuff but I had to go to the doctors. I've had a doctor's appt once a week for the past 5 weeks. Geez I guess getting older is high maintenance. Plus I'm one of those people who (sorry TMI) never know when Aunt Flo's coming or if she's coming. I think Little J is a miracle. But thank goodness, after today, healthwise I seem to be *normal*. One more dentist appoint next week and then I'm done with doctors for a while... Unless... we want to have another little one soon, then I go back and see what options we have. I think we'll see where nature takes us and hope for another little miracle.

I've been neglecting the website because I've been having too much fun making cards. It makes me feel kind of crafty. I really like working with my hands, I wish I had more time. I'm looking at shopping carts again and really interested in the Zen Cart. I had my mind on Mals-e since it's something I could handle but Zen just seems to have more options. Reading about Zen and php and ssl and and and.... makes me want to cry... or do something unrelated like go look at a celebrity blog. hehe. I don't know what happened to my brain. When it comes time for a retail site, I'm leaning towards hiring someone if I go with Zen especially if I want to customize. First things first, I still need to finish catalog, preliminary website and I still have to reshoot the product photos.

To end on a good note, the client I did CD design for, wants to order some cards. Yay.

Just give me 2 lines

This weekend I went to a film audition. A friend of my husband's is making an Asian movie... more like a movie for the Asian community. Since I'm bilingual I was asked to participate/help out. I thought I knew what to expect... but then I wondered is this for a role? is it for a voice dub? It turned out we had to kinda "act" in front of the camera. Crap. I'm all for helping hubby's friend but this is kind of embarrassing.

I get my Vietnamese lines and I REALLY have to study it because in front of strangers, it feels foreign. Anyway there's a really cute girl who looked like she's studying the lines too. I asked her 'Do you go to these things alot?"
Girl: "You mean auditions? ...yeah"
Me: "Oh, are you an actress?"
Girl: (shyly)"... mmm yeah, you could say that. Usually it's English speaking, it's very rare that I get called for this."
(I was trying to size up the situation here)

Anyway, I read my lines with 2 guys. 1st guy... he was so nervous but he was able to get thru his lines.
The 2nd guy... it was hilarious. The director had us read in English (yay!) and the 2nd guy could BARELY read his lines. Poor guy. So the director told us to switch to Vietnamese. The guy said he can't read Vietnamese. (Who told him to come down? LOL) It's not his native language and neither is English. The director asks what his native language was and 2nd guy says Laos and French. So anyway we finished up reading in Vietnamese. LOL

How did I do? Oh I sucked and I was nervous. But I must not have sucked that bad if I was asked to stay to read a couple of times. In my opinion I sucked... but I really thought it was fun. Embarrassing but fun. It's really hard to 'act' like I have the hots for this guy I'm talking with when the 'actor' can't read his lines and I could barely understand him. heeheehee

As for the girl I spoke to earlier... she read with a few guys too. All the guys got sent home after one take.

On my way out, I talked to hubby's friend. He thanks me for coming down to help them out. He wants me to be involved in one way or another, with a role or behind the scenes. (He always says stuff like this so it's not like I'll be given anything.) I told him it'd be cool if I had a teeny tiny role with 2 lines. This is faaaarrr from any Hollywood production but it would be NEATO to see how everything works and come together. I'm hoping everything works out for him and anyone else behind it.

I like blogging

I don't do as much as I like, but I like blogging. I didn't think I'd keep it up this long. Although the things I write are pretty mundane, it helps me feel like I have a voice. Since being a mom, I've been home and don't talk much to people anymore. Except for my sister who has 4 kids (one more on the way), none of my close friends have any kids. So no one really 'gets it'. LOL.

Anyway, blogging is a bit of therapy and it helps me look at where I'm at with starting a biz. I've done more in the past 7 months about the paper biz than I have in the past 3+ years of planning for it. I think I took action at the most difficult time... when my son started to become mobile. What made me think I wasn't going to be chasing him around? LOL Anyway I'm going at slower than a snail's pace, but at least I'm going.

So right now it's website building time. Ok, without having to deal with a shopping cart, it's easier. But I still have to deal with that eventually. Depending on how sane I am at that point, I might hire someone. I think it's fear of giving control to someone else, I don't know. Right now though, I'm having a hell of a time shooting the cards. I want to photograph them because they are embellished. We'll see what happens after I play with the camera settings and lighting a bit more. Photoshop can only do so much.

I should get to know my neighbor

There's a lady down our street who does custom invitations. I've never met her but I met her husband twice. The first time I met him was when we first moved in. He was handing out flyers for the annual 'block party' where all the neighbors get all social and have a big cookout in the middle of the street. We didn't go because we were out of town. After that they never had another block party. Back then he mentioned she was a graphic designer and designed invitations. I mentioned I was starting a greeting card biz (yeah, 3 years ago).

Well he and I met again just the other day when he came by to ask how we liked the painters who painted our house since they are painting his house the next day. (Isn't late to ask now? hehe) Yes, our lovely association sent us a lovely letter telling us we needed to paint our house. Anyway... the neighbor and I ended up having the same quick conversation as we did 3 years ago. This time though, he gave me his wife's biz card. I'm going to make it a point to get to try to meet her. I can't say I've ever seen her around though. But it's pretty cool that someone in the paper biz lives so close by.

It also got me to realize... I've been wanting to start this biz thing for 3 years now??? Yikes! I must've not been that serious before because if I was, I'd be a lot further along than I am now. Gah! If I had known then what little time I'd have now...... SIGH.....