a little update

Wow it's been a week since I've posted!

I think that's the longest it's been. I've been super busy and wrapped up in a bunch of things, I just haven't had the time.

Last week at work was busy and went fast. I do most of my blogging during my free time at work so that's mostly why it suffered.

I've also been such a baby about the heat and not much. I did some scrapbooking though! I did a two page spread for my mom's book and did one page for me and Ben's. I also bought this date Smash Stamp from K&Company at Blick this weekend and some Mod Podge gloss from Blick art stores.

I also bought this Canon photo printer on Amazon! I figured it'd be a good investment. It's wireless, I could download an App to sync and print pictures from my iPhone. Ben has a really good camera and we could finally print photos from it. It got good reviews and it was pretty cheap! And I got free shipping on it. I think it's worth it. Plus, if I really want to scrapbook and document and Project Life, a photo printer was necessary.

Ben and I have been going out to eat a lot lately! We went to Fire and Ice with some friends Thursday night.

Hahaha FAIL.

Fire and Ice with Chris, Mike, and Ben

My food before it was cooked

On the grill!

Ben and I went to the Franklin Park Zoo on Saturday

Ben entering the butterfly house!

The butterflies they had

Waiting to be beauuutiful butterflies

Tree kangaroo!

and we spent the day in his hometown yesterday!

Adam and the horses

Feeding the horse!!

Flowers I got from the farm :)

I had a really great weekend. Especially spending so much time outside.

Instagram!

1. Selfie :p
2. Work laptop
3. Free desserts in our new cafeteria
4. Lots of free food from our new cafeteria
5. Spoiling myself a little with some shopping
6. Fire and Ice
7. Hemp lip balm
8. Roxbury Crossing
9. Shells from the Cape
10. Black and Mild filtered tip
11. Project Runway on Hulu
12. The butterfly room
13. Pizza with Benjamin
14. Tasty Burger
15. Franklin Park Zoo
16. Ben's FJ
17. Sunflowers
18. Gladiola
19. Rainbow
20. Funny carrots
21. Feeding the horses

This weekend

Wellllll. I didn't do everything I wanted. Surprise! Haha. I realllly didn't do anything I wanted.

Ben and I spent most of the day out together in Cambridge on Saturday. It was so hot inside the apartment when we got back, it totally sucked out any motivation I had to do any crafts. Mostly because Ben's room has the AC pumping. To sit in my room and do my little projects while his room is ice cold and mine is a sweat box is reallly hard. I'm a baby when it comes to being hot. The only time I could stand being deathly hot is when I am on the beach in a bathing suit. Haha

So we relaxed and watched a movie together and ordered in and bonded. We went to bed kinda early and slept in Sunday. We spent the day hanging at the house and cleaning because Alex was moving in. I rearrange the entire pantry and cleaned out the fridge. I mopped the entire house. Everything was all set for Alex to move in. Then Ben and I spent the evening with him.

So it's never like I don't do anything... I just had more important things to take care of. How embarrassing would it be if Alex moved in and he couldn't put one thing of his in the cabinets or refrigerator or if he had to move into a dirty room? I know he's a guy and doesn't think that way, but I really would of felt guilty if I didn't do those things for him.

I decided against the What I Wore posts. I just wasn't confident about them. I think that this is something I'll have to do with Ben and have him take my pictures. I think I may wait until classes start to do this also. We'll see. It's something I really really want to do, just don't know how to go about it yet.

My pictures from PostalPix came, yay! It's amazing to compare the photos taken with my iPhone 4 and the 4S. I printed some pictures that I took with my regular iPhone 4 and they just look so bad compared to the more recent ones I've taken with my 4S. It's crazy! The 4S is so great, I can't believe the 5 is coming out in the fall. What the hell is it gonna do that's different?!! We'll see I guess!

I didn't make dinner a second time or read any of Lolita. Ugh. fail.

Project Life core kits and binders still aren't up.

I'm waiting for my Umba Box to come this week.

Good news is, I got so much down time and relaxing in this weekend that I feel great. No going home all tired and lazy this week! Next Friday is my last day of Co-op so I'm gonna make it count :)

Well that's today!
Hopefully some project posts up soon :)

xx
Victoria

Currently

Loving: My new Vera Bradley purse! My mom wanted to buy me a little gift so when she saw the Vera Bradley store in the Prudential Center, she told me to pick out a tote bag. SO EXCITING! I totally love it and love that it's big enough to fit my laptop and all other essentials and that I don't have to lug my giant, unflattering Wentworth backpack around anymore.

sooososososo pretty!!! What's really awesome is that this was the LAST bag in this print. Even if I wanted the bag in a different style, nope too bad. It was the very last of this print in the store. That made me feel special :) and!! This print is their Breast Cancer Awareness bag and 10% of the sale goes towards breast cancer research. How awesome is that? That's like a triple win!

Reading: I just started Lolita. But I haven't gotten very far.... I'll keep you updated

Watching: The Olympics! This is the first year I've ever really watched or kept up with or cared about the Olympics. My favorite events (that I've seen!! I only watch when I'm not busy) to watch are the synchronized diving and gymnastics. I really would like to see some badminton, table tennis, and basketball though!

Anticipating: Tomorrow. Pay day!! I have a few things on my list to purchase...

Listening to: Everyone eating lunch. I'm about to get mine and meet with Benjamin :)

Planning: My night. I get out early today (3:00, yes!) So I have a bunch of free time tonight!

Working on: Since I finished my flower canvas project I could start a new one! I got some Lucky Brand white jeans when I went thrifting. Tonight they are becoming high wasted cuffed shorts. YES!!!!

Wishing: My mom was still here. I had such a good time with her and it's always too long before I get to see her again. I miss her!

Updates, updates, updates. Ah! But I'm finally being productive and getting my things together. I'm a crafty lady now :)

Monday Update!

Okay so maybe I should have considered how busy I'd be with my Mom's visit when I was making my schedule. I guess I should of just had planned to start it on an even day, like August 1st instead of... June 25th? Guess I was just anxious.

I got a few of my things done here and there. But mostly I was just so happy to be with my mom and the blog kind of went to the back of my mind.

But I had an amazing weekend.

We got some great food, went thrifting, shopping, flea markets, watched the Olympics, and just bonded and talked. I actually cried saying goodbye to Bernadette at the airport. And usually it's me yelling at her to stop crying and she's sobbing. Yesterday was the opposite. I guess that I've just grown up so much in the past couple of months that I just missed having my mom take care of me. Now instead of me telling her about stupid girl dramas, I'm talking about the bills and grocery shopping and cleaning and my work schedule and this and that. Instead of arguing about stupid things, we both fought over washing the dishes.

I didn't even take pictures! The weather wasn't the greatest so I wasn't too motivated to do that. But, like I said, I was just so into the moment and hanging with my mom.

I showed her the scrapbook I was making for her. She couldn't stop looking at the three pages I made and told her that made her night and she couldn't wait for me to finish it. She's going to mail up some baby pictures she loves, too. She wants a little of everything in her scrapbook and I think that's an awesome idea.

My mom was also so impressed and interested in my little craft life! She was asking me questions and really into it when I showed her some of my favorite blogs. She actually asked me to email her the links!! It was so great to have her behind me with all of this. Usually she's like "oh you won't do that" and now she's like "oh can you make me something like that?!" and I love it! I even showed her Project Life and she thought the idea was really cool. She doesn't think I'll be able to keep up week to week but also agrees it's pretty simple to document each week so she has some faith in me. I can't wait till the new products are available to buy! Ah!

My boss is so good to me. He let me have Monday off so I could spend the day with my mom. He even made sure I got a pay for it :) So thankful how lucky I've been. Except now my week is a day behind. My Tuesday feels like Monday. But that's okay, I can't complain :)

SO! For the UpDaTe!
Today, before I go home from work, I plan to....

• Rearrange the Calendar
• Create 2 goals for the month
• PostalPix order
• Finalize Financial Aid things for the Fall 2012 semester
• Insta update
• Work on some formatting of the blog

 For after work I plan to...

• Catch up on some at home projects 
• Work out "What I Wore" for the first post on Friday
• Clean
• BE PRODUCTIVE!

I can do this!
I know I've been slacking and not doing everything I've wanted, but it's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing. I've just been so busy with things I just need to take care of first. That's life. I know when classes start I'll have way more free time to do all the things I want.

As for home life, there's good news!!! Alex is moving in! So I'm so glad I sacrificed one of my days last week to spend the day with him and Ben and talk to him about moving in. I love Jack but I'm over living with him... I'm excited that the house is about to change up a little bit. Yay!

Personal!

I feel like I haven't had time to myself in days! So I need a little venting time. This is a Victoria post :)

Since Ben and I spent the weekend away, it's been hard to get back into the swing of things. Monday and Tuesday I had little motivation to do anything because I was so behind on sleep and I actually had so much to do around the house that it just made me want to do nothing.

I work until 5 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays, so after I get home, I usually make something to eat for Ben and I, we watch an episode of whatever show we're watching (currently we're on Season 4 of Dexter, Ben has never seen it, ah!) and then I shower, get my things ready for the next day, and then it's 9:30ish and the last thing I want to do is start a project or start cleaning the apartment. When I work on things I like to spend as much time as I want on it, with room for breaks for regrouping and inspiration. I like to go to bed early, too.

That's the other problem, I'm the morning person and Ben is the night owl. So usually, we spend the time between chores and bed hanging out and bonding because he could stay up after I go to bed and have his time and do his homework and take care of his little projects. It's actually kind of nice, cause then on the weekends, I could get up before he's totally awake and clean and shower and relax and have my coffee at a more reasonable 10 AM instead of after noon.


Yesterday being Wednesday, I finally got to clean. Since our other roommate, Jack, was away for the entire week of 4th of July, and it was just Ben and I until the weekend, the apartment stayed pretty clean until we all came back on Sunday. And, since I spent my free time cleaning yesterday... I had no time to work on projects. Sigh. It's okay, I have tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday night. But not Sunday!

Sunday Ben and I were invited out on a boat with friends. Our friend lives in Cape Cod, Mass and has a boat. She invited us with her boyfriend and another mutual couple out for a fishing trip and out to hang out on an island for the day. I'm only used to the Jersey Shore so I can't wait! Ben also loves to fish so he's excited. I'm also happy I could spend some time with some girls and catch up on my tan. Sunday should be so much fun.

Well hopefully I'll have some crafty news to share in the next coming days :)

xx V

P.S., On Monday, I got my first UMBA BOX!!!! Yes!! I got Ben's sister and I both subscriptions to Umba Box. Seriously best idea ever. We got homemade bracelets and stationary. I already sent my mom a little letter and have been wearing the bracelet. Can't wait for next month!!!
               Edit: Click here if you would like to see the July Umba Box reveal!

Two things...

So I want to add some features to my blog. I'm really treating this as an online diary, as well as a documentation of my projects and life.

One . I love Instagram. It's probably my favorite iPhone App. I think I'm going to start doing a weekly Instagram post where I share all my uploads from Insta from the week. This will make me take more pictures and therefore have more pictures for me to look back on and scrapbook.

Two . Since I've gone to college, had limited money, and gotten older, my style has changed with me. Or more so, matured with me. I love that I thrift so often now and that I'm sewing my own clothes. Every season I get rid of more and more of my old high school clothes in trade for nicer and more professional clothes. I think I'm going to start doing a what-I-wore feature. I'm proud of my more money conscience wardrobe and my more rounded style. I'm trading short shorts for longer skirts and more decent dresses. I'm only going on 21, but the clothes in my pass are rarely going to make appearances in my future.

I want to do these things!

I really have been sewing in all of my free time. I guess I'm realizing with work and maintaining our home, I can't move as quickly along as I wanted.

But I have a serious goal! I want to send my sister's package out by the end of the week. That means I have to go to the fabric store and get material for her maxi dress and sew it and also get things for dan and ahhh! But her birthday is July 28th, and it takes packages awhile to get from here to there so it's crunch time. Maybe I could sneak out to Chinatown during lunch this week and go to the fabric store. I have to do this! The dress is the last piece to the package.

But now that I have a better grasp on my schedule and a better concept of the time sewing projects take, I could make more realistic goals for myself. It's all about trial and error, my friends. And I'm not gonna lie, whenever I make goals they do just sit in my head until I get around to them. So this week I'm gettin busy!

Monday again!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! I also hope you had a long break like I did! I was lucky enough to get Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off and paid! But now it's back to the full work week and being productive (after I finish this blog post...) Which I can't lie, I missed the routine. Doing tons of nothing gets to me. But I'm glad to get back into the swing of things.

So I haven't updated since last Monday, ahh!! I've just been too busy.

Tuesday - My last day of work for the week. I was able to leave at lunch time. So I went home and ate with Benjamin. Then I just cleaned, hung around the house, and started on a pair of shorts from some fabric and a pattern I had! Benjamin and I were having a sort of rough patch the past weekend so it was nice to spend the extra time with him. He knew we were both being difficult and I was a little homesick, so my baby surprised me with some much needed delicious desserts. I'm so lucky :)

I got TWO!! of these little fruit tarts. Soooosososo good!

I also got two chocolate truffle mousse cake things. Which I think were more for Benjamin. We shared this but it was still so good! The fruit was my favorite, but I'll take either any day :)

Wednesday - 4th of July!!! Though, Ben and I will be doing our celebrating at his house the following Saturday. His sister flew in from Chicago the night before (Tuesday) and her boyfriend was flying in on Friday for the family party. So Ben and I kept cool in the house all day and then went to the movies to see Prometheus. It kept us entertained, to say the least. We don't feel it explained anything... just left you with more questions...

Thursday - Ben's parents drove his sister, Lauren, to our apartment in Boston to spend the night by us. We went out to eat at Victoria's Diner (my favorite! and not just because we share the same name) and then Ben's Mom, Laurie, Lauren, and I went thrifting at a giant Goodwill which Ben and his dad, Bruno, went to a card shop. I got a skirt (which I'm wearing currently at work!), a dress from H&M, and some vintage plates, saucers, and teacups! I decided I'm going to collect a mismatch dish set with teacups. I absolutely love old plates and all the floral and how it's decorated. I also love mismatch. Now I just need some girlfriends to have a tea party, yay! Then Laurie and Bruno headed back to their house while Lauren, Ben, and I hung out. Lauren had a few of her friends over from high school who live in the city now. I told them about sewing and fruit dehydrating and just chatted and we had dinner at Tasty Burger. Seriously, best burgers EVER. I got the Kahuna burger. Mmmmm :) Should of taken pictures. Oh well, it was dark. Then we headed back to our place and chatted some more before we called it a night.

Friday - Lauren and I woke up early to go on a coffee date. A local coffee shop I have never been to that Lauren and I were planning to try was closed, so we just walked to Starbucks. It was so hot! I couldn't wait to have my iced coffee and petite vanilla scone. We were there from 9:30 AM -12:30 PM!  We just hung out and talked. I don't have a lot of girlfriends, and the ones I do don't know Benjamin very well so it was nice to be able to talk about my relationship to another female who actually knows Benjamin. That might be the most difficult part of being away. Having almost two different lives filled with completely different people. The people from home just don't know the people in Boston or even think similarly, and vise versa. Slowly my Boston life has taken over my New Jersey one, but that's life.  I'm so grateful for my new life and am so glad I followed the path I did that got me where I am today. After we got back, we hung around the house until Ben's Mom picked us up and brought us back to their house. Ben and I hung out with friends while Lauren and Bruno got her boyfriend, Josh, from the airport.

Saturday - Ben's family party! It was so nice to see all his family, and spent time with his sister. She went to school in Savannah and now lives in Chicago so no one gets to see that much of her. His family is truly my my family as well so I felt comfortable and welcomed. Lauren and I felt we needed sun hats for the party and being out on the boat, so we got some at T.J. Maxx's the day before. Best decision ever. I only have a few photos, but here they are :)

My colorful and huge hat and my Benjmain

Captain Ben on the boat!

Lauren and I and our hats :)

and I was lucky enough to go on a romantic canoe ride with my love, and I didn't have to paddle

Sunday - We woke up early and went to a giant flea market a couple towns over from Ben. All I got was some natural raw wildflower honey from Maine. My life goal is to have my own beehive on my property when I have a house. I want to be a beekeeper! And make my own honey, chapstick, beeswax, and whatever else. After we got back, we just slowly headed back to Boston. Ben and I watched Machete and I went to bed early.

It was such a perfect weekend!