BrainVomitting.

I can't contain my excitement or my innards.

I scored an interview to be an intern for one of my idols in NYC. 

I need all the good juju in the world to be focused on me Friday.

I've never wanted a job so badly in my life. 

That being said, I'm freaking out, of course. 

This could either be another lesson in losing, or the biggest life change I've ever had (and been dying for).

Keep your fingers crossed for me, please guys? I don't ask for much from you lovlies <3

What Have You Done With Your Life?

Oh dear bloggityblog, I'm sorry I've neglected you so. My life has been a whirlwind, most of it blowing me far away from technology other than my cell phone (my poor tumblr has gone terrifically ignored lately as well). Since most of the details have blurred, I'll give you the more or less two full week rundown:

-Finished up house sitting & promptly brought Sway back home for puppysitting with my parents.

-10 hour drive to North Carolina, passing cars on the highway in a 65 doing 34. Barely an inch of snow, but holy hell, who signs up for that when traveling south?? Greeted with friendship bracelets from my cousin MaddiCoop.

-Crashed at my aunt & uncles, got iced in the next morning & had to gun it out of the culdisac. Woke my cousin up at 8am causing the ruckus. 

-9.5 hours to Disney, check-in, no room number, ants in the hotel room sinks. Got dinner with Gracie-Lou (missed her so so much) & planned the next few days.

-Universal Studios - wore a skirt and sandals & a fall jacket. Froze all day - low 50s & heavy winds were not our friends. Perpetual goosebumps. Harry Potter Land (Butterbeer is wonderful), brand new rides, wands, owls, and cornish pasties. Front seat on The Hulk. Took a leisurely stroll through SeussLand & ate cheap popcorn from a bucket. Dinner at Margaritaville, killed 2 hours with good (expensive) food, good music, and a few rounds of drinks (go big or go home). Kissed her face all day; at least we froze together. Wore our coats at the parks the next two days.

-Pitcher of Strongbow at O'Shucks, a kareoke bar in Orlando - sang Let's Give Them Something To Talk About with a sore throat, and Gracie followed up with her amazing rendition of Downtown.  

-23rd Birthday, celebrated in style (the style of a 7 year old, of course) -- Pick up Gracie, who got us into Hollywood Studios & the Magic Kingdom for free: Happy Birthday, 1st Visit, & Celebration buttons for everyone! Rode the Tower of Terror twice, all the standards - Rockin Roller Coaster, Muppets Theater, oh my goodness the new Toy Story ride is bitchinnn, just a loose wonderful morning. Gracie treated us to lunch at the SciFi Dine-In, and it was one of the best burger experiences I've had in a long time. By evening we were at the Kingdom. We danced, rode the Teacups (twice! love.), and watched amazing fireworks over the Castle. Jill bought me a beautiful silver Tinkerbell ring. Drinks at Independent Bar & good conversation with new friends. Missed my puppy, bff, and parents on my birthday, but didn't dwell.

-Slept in a little & grabbed Miss Lou to go to the Animal Kingdom & go on safari before ending the day in Epcot. The most relaxed day of all - not too much hustle or excitement. Dinosaur ride was dead & we enjoyed taking a ridiculous picture on it the second time around due to no wait. The Yeti ride was one of my all time favorites. By Epcot, Jill & I were exhausted with sore feet and empty pockets. Shot Gracie's headshots & ate some amazing guac from Mexico. Paris hurt my heart and Japan brought me a good luck owl, silver for gaining patience. Bittersweet last evening ended at a Moroccan restaurant across from Gracie's apartment. Planned breakfast on a whim.

-Packed, checked-out, IHOP to say goodbye to Miss GracieLou. Heart hurt again, but I had too much to look forward to to dwell, and hugged her til tears came. 7.5 hours back to NC.

-Amazing dinner with family, Book of Eli, bad nights sleep. Back on the road promptly the next morning. Stopped at a disgusting roadside outlet shop for kicks. Home by 9, smothered my pup with lovins. Again, slept badly. There's been no good nights sleep in a week. 

-Emailed Todd France to confirm Wednesday's meeting Sunday night. Monday morning, got informed that the position has been filled. Cried. Canceled all the weeks' plans, especially the apartment hunting. Applied for 13 more jobs immediately. 

-Came down with a wicked headcold. Hasn't lightened up in days. Must have been my body's way of telling me I've run it down, got my hopes too high, and needed to slow down & reassess. Been couch-bound for three days. 

-Framed Caroline's paintings finally, not as beautifully as I would have liked, but they're under glass at last and are ready to hang... whenever I find that room to hang them in. Also picked up moving boxes & began packing. I am ready to move at a moments notice. If only I had some money to go to the city with when that moment comes...

-Swayze got out of his harness this afternoon on our walk and ran into a backyard of people I've never met. Lucky he's cute - they gave him a milkbone while I chased him down. Ran into my son, Phil, right after that little adventure. 

I'm ready for a few callbacks, since everything else fell through. Phone interview never called back. I hate feeling like my life is on hold right now.

My 23 before 24 list is almost complete, and I'll post it as soon as it is.

In other news: my biggest fear is one day realizing everyone I'm surrounded by is no longer interesting. Actually, no, my biggest fear is realizing I'm no longer interesting, and people don't notice.

Warhold Banana @ The Angry Banana

Well that was sooner than planned, but I did say ASAP I guess....

With my $100 in rolled coins, I went with Jill to get ink today. Not expecting much, in fact expecting nothing because we both figured Saturdays would be booked all up, we drove down to South Main Street in Syracuse to The Angry Banana tattoo shop. They opened at noon, and at 11:45, there was a crowd outside. We shrugged, said why not, and found the sign in sheet. 

Jeff's noon appointment didn't show up, and the rest of the day was walk-ins welcome (as opposed to weekdays, where they'll take a walk in if there's a cancellation, but they're currently booked for the next 2 weeks with appointments) so there were mine & Jill's names, top 2 on the sheet, and he got us going right away. Jill's is excellent, I'll post pictures when I get better ones taken - it's hearts gradually getting bigger up from the top of her foot, wrapping around her ankle, to the back of her calf ending in one big red heart (the rest are all black outlines or black filled in).

That angle on that picture of mine is a little off, making it look a lot longer and skinnier than it really is, and if I put my elbow on the table, the banana is upside down from what it should be, but when I walk with my arm straight down it's right side up, which I decided was more important. I think it's so far my absolute favorite; he got the lining and screen-print feel of it down perfectly. 

So in love, can't wait to take better pictures when it's healed. 

In other news, I thought I had pink eye, but it was a false alarm. Clear Eyes (wow.) did the trick.

Florida on Monday!!

Whoalife.

In the last 2 weeks I have applied to 17 NYC jobs & internships, heard back from 2 that sound extra positive, and have to make one more super professional phone call this afternoon to a contact from Anita (I'm both scared to death that I'm going to screw this up, and ridiculously excited because he sounds amazing & fabulous). 

This whole moving to NYC thing got very real Wednesday morning when I got a response back from Todd France saying he wants to meet me, and sending a list of "here's what you'd have to do at this job" which I over-qualify for to say the least (but in a really good way, like not over qualified and I'd be wasting my time, but it's all stuff I do so regularly for myself, that all I'd really need to learn is his system / routine for it all like Lightroom cataloging and blogging [things you don't think to put on a resume, huh?]). I have also gotten two follow up emails leading to a phone interview from a clothing company that I'm very torn about, but am in no position to pass up opportunities. I'm still waiting on a solid response back from a non-profit that has peaked my interest. Everything else is still floating around in email resume space.

Before it was like "Yeah, I'm planning on moving to the city by February. No, I don't have any money or job or apartment prospects, but I just want to go and do it." And now it's like "Well, I have one more phone interview, and then several in-person interviews that are less testing my talents and more finding out that I'm not a total creep before they officially hire me.... in mid-January, like two days after I'm back from Florida." Now I actually need to be on the hunt for apartments / roommate situations. Now I actually have real solid scheduled reasons to be there. Now is where normally I'd be going batshit insane.

My mind is a little blown, I'll admit that. But I'm not crazyanxious or crazynervous yet because I'm still just too excited that someone wants to hire me.

I have this insane impulse to go splurge on shoes and interview clothes, asap. Splurge, meaning, I have no money and my credit card misses me.

In other news, Snaggle as a medium-dog sized rawhide bone shoved halfway down her throat. Tiny dogs astound me. I'm pretty much ready to be done here, I have yet to feel settled or comfortable the way I was at Warren's (who, by the way, had me over for an excellent dinner the other night. It was really nice to sit down and catch up with them one more time before this life thing starts taking off). 

I watched a preview for the new MTV SKINS finally last night - not impressed. Why did they keep the original season 1 storyline?? And if they insist on keeping half the characters the same, and the other half with simply changed names, where is Cassie? She's my favorite. And Chris is dead!!? Why bring him back Americanized?? I just don't know. Of course I'm going to watch the first episode just to see, but it's going to take a lot of convincing that this needed to be remade already. 

We ruin all the good British shows.

And finally, I'm getting this tattooed on my arm as soon as possible:

(I've been literally saving my pennies, I pay for my tattoos with change)