Busy Bee.

I wasn't lying when I said I'd be going full throttle this week. So far, I've thrown out a book concept, come up with another one (on Monday morning), started designing it, laid out a dummy book and labeled every single page while planning, wrote the full text/copy, took photos, then took photos OF photos, laid them out, manually paginated all 168 pages, printed, trimmed, comped, hand-bound the book, padded a cover, upholstered the cover, drilled holes through the whole thing and then attached it all with bolts. I did all of that within 36 hours. How I managed to create and design 168 pages.... I'll never know. But I did. it's done. 6 hours at Kinko's and I have a 99% finished book (I say 99% because in reality, I'd have to switch out some of the photos for other ones but I didnt get them developed in time. oh film!)

I was giddy last night when I left Kinkos right before midnight. GIDDY! So giddy that I allowed myself to come home and watch 2 episodes of Dexter with Mike. Eep! Presentations are today at 1pm. I have to head over to school early though because I have a Student Government meeting. After class we're heading to Nashville to get my calf tattooed. I'm nervous as balls but hopefully all goes well.

Yesterday while trying to lay out the rest of my book and come up with copy, we took Georgia to the puppy park. She has fun and is distracted and I get to sit on the bench and be productive. She had so much fun. However, one mean dog was rolling her on the ground and biting her. G's tongue was bleeding at one point but she didn't care. She's so unphased by that stuff. She just ran and ran and ran, and then swam some and then rolled in the dirt. She LOVES the puppy park and I love to take her. I feel like a good Momma. One lady kept getting angry at her dog for getting wet/dirty... uh hello... this is a puppy park. With other puppies. That play. and get muddy. Dogs will be dogs. By the time we got G to the car, she was covered head to toe in mud. I love that little stinker.

Oh speaking of G.... She's having her eye surgery on Friday! It was scheduled with a dental clean on May 3rd but we called and had it bumped up to April 9th! SO EXCITED!

Here's some silly pictures of her yesterday while she slept on my fabric while I was trying to make my book cover.



We used a drill to drill through the book and apply the bolts. This was the dummy mockup that I did so I could make sure every single page was laid out correctly and so that when I paginated it by hand, I did so correctly. It was time consuming to make this dummy book but SO worth it in the end. It saved my butt so many times these past 2 days.



Here's some rough photos of my book. This is the cover (it's padded) and it's bound with 2 bolts. The 1 inch on the left side stays flat and the rest of the book is scored to bend and open easily.


This is an interior spread. Each "day" has an assignment, paired with a photo (this one doesn't relate), and then the next spread is a page for you to journal about what you did, and then a page for you to attach a photo that you took to represent that day. (The kit also comes with photo corners that are black so that you can put any size photo in there, be it a polaroid or 4x6 etc)


Apparently Mello Yello did a redesign?! IDK but I love it. I hate mello yello but I bought it just because of the packaging. Yes, I'm a packaging nerd.



xo

PS: I've been asked a few times what my calf tattoos were going to be and I'm not sure I ever mentioned so here you go... the one I'm getting today is on my right calf and it's a traditional piece with roses, swallow, a banner that reads "Nana" and a vintage sewing machine/spool of thread/needle because my Nana was a seamstress all her life. The one on my left calf (to come later) is the same idea, but with the masonic symbol and stonemason tools because my Papa was a stonemason :) so there you have it :) *(I just told my artist what I was thinking... I said "traditional pieces, flowers and a vintage sewing machine with the words in a banner saying Nana" and she came up with a really great sketch that I went to see yesterday. Oddly enough, it's very reminiscent of the adorable Silje's calf tattoos, but don't worry, I didn't copy her or steal her design or anything. But if you haven't read her blog, go check it out HERE. She did a wonderful watercolor painting of Bert for me! She's adorable!)*

PPS: To clear up any confusion with the last photo post... NO, Mike and I are NOT engaged! haha! I realize I'm sporting a big rock on that left ring finger but I can assure you that it's a $12.99 Target special! I wear it while I'm at work/the bar so when drunk fellas come calling, I can flash it and say "I'm taken". It really really gets old in the bar. Mike and I both hope that one day that time will come for us, and I will be very excited for it so I'll probably blog immediately :P As much as I'd love to get engaged right now, I feel like an engagement puts pressure on you to start planning the wedding immediately (and even though I've been planning it my whole life, I don't want to rush to the altar just yet!) Rest assured, I will let you know if and when!