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I survived my first week!
I survived my first week at my new job and loved it! I can’t share what I’m doing because it’s probably top secret, and I signed a bunch of contracts on my first day, etc., but when I can, I will. Also, next week I’m traveling! I’m a traveling graphic designer. That hardly ever happens! I’m so excited. I know it’s fresh and new now, so it seems like a super fun fast-lane sort of life and will probably get old soon but I secretly think it won’t. The travel for this job is to the most beautiful places. I keep pinching myself I can’t believe this is my job. I can’t believe it’s real! I feel scared that something bad will happen because I don’t deserve this great job. But maybe I do deserve it. I’m going to work my butt off to prove that I do.
The sad news is that my working my butt off means long hours away from Bug and home. Bug is doing fine because she’s seventeen and has her own full life. Cody not so much. So we made the difficult decision to let my parents take care of Cody. I miss him like crazy but staying in an apartment all day alone is not a good life for a dog. It’s hard enough that he doesn’t have his buddy Whiskey anymore.
At first it was hard to leave him. My parents reported to me that after I left he was sad and curled up by the door waiting for me to come back. Thankfully that didn’t last long. A few treats here and there and lots of walks and now Cody and my dad are best buddies.
I mean, it’s not the worst life out there in the sticks for a dog. My dad and I walk every morning at the same time and chat via headphones so now I get daily pictures and reports on how Cody is doing. Sometimes my dad even puts me on speaker phone and Cody will bark at me. It’s cute.
But because I gave my parents a dog, they were now over their pet limit at their HOA so I got to take home a cat in exchange. I now have three cats. Kady (the one I’ve had the longest), Inky (who Bug has claimed), and now Rosy. They are all actually littermates that my mom rescued nine years ago when their feral mother left them in my mom’s front yard. They’ve been separated over the years but funny enough when we brought them back together, they got along just fine! I’m so relieved. You know I’ve had so much trouble introducing new cats in the past I’m a bit traumatized. These three cats get along great. They don’t love each other. It’s not a lick fest cuddle puddle or anything but nobody really gets upset if they get too close to each other. They all mildly tolerate each other like typical siblings. Maybe someday they’ll learn to cuddle together.
And that’s my news! It’s been raining like crazy, and the park is flooded but I’m happy in my cozy apartment and my fun new job.
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The Mural Part 2: I finished it!
I swear I’m going to get back into daily blogging one of these days. To be honest I’ve been a bit down lately and found myself self-soothing with food and sleep (never a good sign) so I time-blocked my entire week with a small chunk especially blocked out for blogging. So far I only have a time slot set for once a week but if I’m good at this time-blocking business, and don’t rebel against myself like I usually do, I’ll up it to more time. It’s a hard time for me. I knew it would be but here I am sludging through.
Let’s talk about the mural! The mural was a good time! I was super worried and self-critical all the way through but once it was done and everyone told me it was beautiful I started to believe them. I’m mostly happy because it was outside my comfort zone and I did it! I conquered that wall.
I think I already said this in the last blog post but that primer was a big mistake. It was so much work to cover it all. What was I thinking??? In a way it worked out because the client wanted full bushes of bougainvillea and I probably would have made it a bit more branchy and less bushy. So I think the primer forced me to really cover the space. I still want to go back and add more highlights and the little yellow centers to the flowers but the scaffolding had to go back so I ran out of time.
I’m actually really surprised I finished it on time. It was a bear of a job. Working in that heat, climbing around on scaffolding like I wasn’t afraid of heights.
I’m totally afraid of heights! But I figured out a way to overcome my fear: concentrate on painting! When I needed to reach a spot up high to finish detail on a petal just out of reach, I just stretched out my arm into mid air and didn’t think about how precarious I was. I even walked on the top scaffolding without holding on at some points.
My dad was SO SWEET. He was so worried about me falling off the scaffolding that he drove himself out to help me every day on his own dime (which is not cheap lately with gas prices soaring). I paid him to bring and take away the scaffolding (he’s a total lifesaver) but he still wanted to come every day even when I didn’t need him. Turns out I kinda did need him because the top scaffolding didn’t reach all the way across so we put a ladder up on top of the scaffolding so I reach the really far bits. It was scary but knowing my dad had my back, literally, kept me going. I know how blessed I am to have a dad like this. I don’t know what I would do without him. When I think about him passing it tears me up every time. Why do parents have to get old??
Bit by bit we got it done. Bug wasn’t so much of a help this second trip out but I was glad for her company anyway. I had my tunes playing, she was laying out getting a tan…it was nice. I think I worked from 6am to 8pm straight, only stopping for water breaks and food.
We became locals at the Crossroads Cafe. Bug finally convinced me to make time for a sit-down breakfast on Sunday so we could actually try the breakfasts that Crossroads Cafe is famous for. It was really good. If you’re out in the Joshua Tree area in the morning, I highly recommend it! It was hard for us to just pop in for food and go back to work because all the stores (really cool vintage stores and artsy bookstores and record stores) were open in the morning which is prime working time for me. Bug really wanted to shop but there was no time for that. I vow we’ll go back there someday and spend some leisure time just poking around. It’s a really cool artsy town. I could see myself living out there someday if I grow a really thick weather-repellent skin.
And that was that. I finished before dark on Sunday which was sooner than I expected. I don’t have any good daytime photos of the mural without scaffolding but I’m sure I’ll get some soon.
Until next time!
