Home and Garden by Kat

I finally did something I've thought about for a long time!

I opened a business!

On Etsy. ( www.homeandgardenbykat.etsy.com )

I'm excited and proud to have a little shop to care for and I'm looking forward to the future of my shop.  I opened the shop on October 1st and so far so good!  I have some seasonal products as well as my main collection. 

The shop sells Bath Products such as lip scrubs, sugar body scrubs, and bath bombs.  I'm working on expanding but I've got a decent selection so far.  I just put up my Holiday Scent Sets not too long ago and I still have my Fall Scents available!

I hope you all go check it out and if you see something you might enjoy in the future favorite that item and give my shop a favorite!  I'll be glad to see that you stopped by!


Cheers and Happy Holidays!

--Kat xx

Breaking the Trend

Surprise!  It's not been a year and here I am blogging!

(Please don't die of shock)

Anyway,  it's been an eventful seven months (oops).  I've had a lot going on and I feel like this year is flying by! It's already July for Pete's sake!  And a busy July it is going to be!  I'm going on vacation!

To YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK!!! (that blog post will be released at a later date after it's happened)

I'm going on a camping trip to Yellowstone for almost two weeks and it is going to be amazing.  Then, about a week and a half after I get back from that vacation I am going to be flying off to WASHINGTON DC for a few days on another vacation.  To say I'm extremely excited for my vacations would still be an understatement. 

Shifting gears, I've been writing and editing since November ended! I've kept up motiviation (for the most part) and I'm feeling like my story that I'm working on is going in a good direction.  And get this,  it actually has an ending.  And I kind of like it!  Amazing, I know.  In case you're wondering, I am not very good at endings.  They are more difficult than you might imagine!  But I think I've got a good one for this story!  It's the only story I've been working on since November.  One of my rules I've set for myself is that I'm not allowed to write anything new until I finish up or discard all the old ones I've only half done.  I feel like it's a good rule because otherwise I might not ever finish anything!  I have a lot of projects waiting in the wings, so I'm not too worried about running out of things to work on just yet. 

Well, I guess this post is more of a preview than an update but I did kind of do some updating toward the end.  Until the next!


Cheers! xx

NaNo Time Again

Happy NaNoWriMo to you!!  I'm enjoying myself so far writing a story I have no idea where I'm going with.  I always enjoy the process of discovering those worlds and tales as I write them.  Editing is sometimes more difficult, but that's not the point.


Today, I find myself sitting in a coffee shop writing as many words as possible and feeling reflective in the breaks between writing sprints.  I'm listening to Classic Rock and dreaming (and typing) away.  Why do I feel reflective and nostalgic?  Who knows, but it is kind of nice sometimes.

I have goals for this NaNo.  Goal one: Finish the 50,000 words.  (obviously) Goal two: earn all the badges available including word count goals and how many days in a row I've written.  Goal three: finish the actual story within the time limit (this means not only reaching 50k words but actually tying up the plot line at the end of the writing period . . . we'll see how it goes.)

I'm feeling pretty good about this go around.  Maybe it's because I just finished the story from last year's NaNo novel (which I'm excited about).  I'm in a writing mood, which always helps.  I'm recharging and staying less stressed.  Thank you new job! 

So far it's day 5 and I've written a total of 8,449 words as of 4:15p in the afternoon.  With a goal of 1,667 words a day I think I'm doing fairly well getting my goal.  I've not yet fallen behind and I'm actually writing a little more each day than I need to.  Exciting times, I'm telling you! Exciting!  I hope I can keep up my momentum and refrain from feeling overwhelmed at any point.  But, as it's my 6th NaNo, I think I should be able to come up with strategies and lean on some techniques that have helped me in the past.

I would also like to point out that I seem to win every other year and I didn't win last year.  2016 is a winning year! Let's do this (and get the outer space themed t-shirt)!! Words assemble!


--Cheers!

Like I hit fast forward and let it go too long.

There always comes a time when I realize how bad I am at this sort of thing, you know, keeping up to date and such.  But, at least I know I'm terrible at it?

I just checked.  It's nearly been a year. . . What can I say? Time flies.

So to catch you up (quickly-ish) and in no particular order (sorry):

I've NOT moved!!!! (a minor miracle)
I went to GeekyCon again and it was amazing.
In April I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!! *read as NOT RETAIL*
I still hate February.
I've started reading normally again.
I'm listening to music again (read as Classic Rock).
Summer band was so much fun (as per usual).
I got a sewing machine for Christmas and it is wonderful.
I've been writing a little.
I'm gearing up for NANOWRIMO again. ( http://nanowrimo.org/about )
My golden birthday was the best birthday YET!!! It was a theme birthday!
My brother graduated from college and got a good job.
Got to finally see The Book of Mormon!
I've been doing a lot of gardening this summer, which I love.

Life is good!  It's all coming together and I'm feeling very busy and social now that I have a set schedule and I get weekends off for the most part and it is very, very nice.

Chicago for my birthday weekend

My Murder Mystery Birthday Bash

The Photo Booth from my Party

The cake I made and decorated

Meeting The Hillywood Show dressed in our Supernatural garb!!! (They are so nice!)

 The midnight release party at GeekyCon for Cursed Child dressed in our Spell Costumes!

A Post in Five Parts

Since the last post, I have discovered that recharging creativity actually takes a long time and it is frustrating.  I know I shouldn't be frustrated, but I wish it could all just turn back on like a light.  To elaborate, last year in total I read over thirty books.  Thirty.  While I realize that is a lot, keep in mind that I had no internet and the library is ridiculously close to my apartment complex.  This year, so far, I have now read two books.  And that has only been since October. 

Along with this, NaNoWriMo is coming to a close as of today.  Even though the most I've written this past year since the last NaNo was a poem that actually took me a few hours to get how I liked it, I gave it a go (naturally).  So it is now the last day and I will not reach 50,000.  I'm not heartbroken by any means.  I seem to have a pattern of winning every other year so I sort of expected to flat line this time around.  However, I am extremely pleased that I reached 28,000 words in a rather consistent assent in word count.  I wasn't even sure I was going to reach that high a word count.  And don't worry, I will be continuing with my writing and especially with this story which has been fun to write.  It's about pirates and best friends so, it's going to be a fun adventure to round out. 

So, really, I'm slowly coming back to how I was.  It's just frustratingly sluggish.  I have to keep reminding myself that I won't suddenly snap back to how I was; it's going to be a process to get back to that place especially since it was a process to have gotten there the first time round.  I also have a few more obstacles this time because I have more distractions (*cough *cough internet).



By some miracle, I was able to go to the newly renamed GeekyCon (formerly LeakyCon).  Oddly enough, I believe that I would not have made it at all if it would not have been for me moving again.  Thank God for getting your deposit back.  It was enough to get me there and to pay for the event.  And then there are my friends.  I was able to share a room this time and we are planning to do the same this next year.  That helps me out a lot and it was a lot of fun!  We all decided that one does not simply quit going to GeekyCon and so this next year we are (of course) going again.  It's so much fun and it just cannot be helped.  These are our kind of people.  Simple.  We do have some nice costume plans for next year which is actually very exciting, something to stay tuned for!



As you might have expected, work is stressful due to it being the holiday season now.  Christmas and retail just really aren't friends.  They pretend to be but in reality the two aren't actually compatible.  I will give a shout out to my company however, who believe that holidays ARE meant to be spent with family and they were not open until 7am on Black Friday.  Take that other retailers who I formerly worked for who opened at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day.  Was it really worth it? Was it? I didn't think so.  Some people (mainly the CEO's of the companies) need to take a step back and reevaluate their priorities.  End of.



MY BEST FRIEND JUST HAD A BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY!!!! I am (obviously) very excited about this and he is a precious little peanut! I can't wait to get to know him and watch him grow up.  Congratulations to my best friend and her husband and family. I'm an Auntie!



This will be my first Christmas that I will have my own place alone.  I don't say this to be sad, I say this because it is all sorts of exciting.  I got to decorate whenever I wanted.  (I may have started a little early due to some sadness regarding Paris and all the other madness that occurred that day.)  Also, I can play Christmas music whenever I want!  I am proud of my Christmas tree which, naturally, is Harry Potter themed complete with a Hagrid and Norbert(a) ornament, Fluffy, HP himself, Ron, and the Hogwarts Crest.  I think I need to expand some of my collection because I have Hermione's trunk and such, but no Hermione.  (I just looked up how much these ornaments cost on Amazon and cripes! Some of them are $60! On Amazon!) I do have some ornaments that plug into lights and glow, one being a Potions scene and the other the Hogwarts Express.  I have sparkly reindeer which look like patronuses!! It's a great, wonderful tree. 



If I don't post again before the holidays I just want to wish everyone well and Happy Holidays Happy Christmas Happy Everything.  xx

My Year, The Sparknotes Version

A lot has happened in the past year (not all of it good) but all in all it could have been worse.

I moved from my three bedroom apartment with two roommates early because the situation became unbearable. I got a single bedroom apartment with no internet and hardly any money.  I roughed it for 6 months. And I mean roughed it.  I read a lot and I wrote a lot and even though I was pretty poor, I loved it. 

I got Henry (my ginger cat) a little buddy and they are the very best of friends and brothers.  They would be lost without each other.  Henry's little brother is called Eliot and he is gray.

I went to LeakyCon at the end of last July and went to Harry Potter World which was amazing and probably made my life.  It was everything I wanted it to be and I went with the best people! I also went on an insane (for me) roller coaster and screamed so much I was without a voice before the convention had even started.  I also made more amazing friends at Leaky.

At the end of October, I got a roommate and moved into a rental house.  It was great and it wasn't.  The house was more trouble than it was worth in the end and they had plans to sell it once spring rolled around.  The landlords put it on the market in March which, in my humble opinion, was a bit early since the lease wasn't up until the end of May.  There was a big fiasco with the lawn and mowing it with a mower they provided which didn't work and they wouldn't replace.  Eventually my roommate and I got it all sorted out.

Speaking of roommates, she moved in with her boyfriend, so here I am once more in my own apartment complete with books, cats, coffee, and Netflix.  The bright side is that I can afford groceries, rent, internet, and using lights instead of candles to illuminate my place this time.  I am so much better off financially this time and that is a real blessing.  Hopefully I am going to settle in and stay a while this time because to be honest, all my friends and family and I are tired of me moving.  It is stressful and difficult and takes up way too much time.  Moving four times in two years sucks.  End of.

But now, I am going to recharge all my creativity, which over the past six months has completely shut down.  I think all the stress from the house and my job combined got the better of me and it got really bad.  But with the house out of the way (the keys got turned in today!) and with my job looking a little better for the summer, I think the only way to go is up.

Work was really bad from May until February due to the Store Manager being worse than Umbridge.  I'm not even joking.  I'm not sure how I survived.  But that Manager is gone now and things have taken a turn for the better.  The entire store's mood has improved and even though we are getting another new manager in August, I think we'll be alright.  (*Fingers crossed.)

So, to recap:
I moved.
I moved again.
I got another cat.
I moved again again.
Work sucked.
Now it's better.


I think those are the important points from these past few months.

Also, I turned 26 and I went to the zoo with my best friend.

 Up's and down's and hopefully now up's for a while.


Cheers! :D  

Blog Updates from Borrowed WiFi

Blog posting becomes more difficult without constant connections to the internet. Fact.  At this point in time I can't afford internet so I have to get my lazy butt to the library or Starbucks or Paneras with computer in tow to do things on the interwebz.  I could, in all fairness, post blogs from my phone; at least I still have internet on there, but it is a lot more difficult and time consuming if you would believe it.

I'm beginning to gear up for LeakyCon which is (finally) quickly approaching.  I'm still extremely excited and I have nearly everything "paid" for.  I have my hotel, the convention, and my flight booked and paid for.  I've nearly saved enough to make up for my paycheck I won't be getting and then after that I have to focus on the Park Event and spending money! I've almost made it in a financially stable manner to this LeakyCon.  Cue the Hallelujah Chorus and applause.

I'm still working on my novel, but I have also started a novel that has been spinning around in my brain for a while now.  I've been avoiding this new novel, but I think I need to write it and then I will feel better about having done it.  That way, after I've finished it, I can write the other other novel that's been pulling my brain's concentration which is going to be super fun and exciting to write. 

It's laughable, the range of all my novel ideas. I've now gone from outer space travelling/adventure, to futuristic, distopian, YA "real life," to magical pirates.  Some of these aren't written yet, but it will be an awesome span of literature when I'm done! You can't accuse me of staying firmly in any sort of literary box!

In my opinion, the YA real life novel is the scariest endevour of my (so far) literary career. It not only deals with real life scenarios and emotions and some things that are personal, but if I write myself into a corner I am more limited in events that I can use to help my plight.  In a work of sci-fi/fantasy, if something gets boring I could throw in an alien invasioin or all the power in the world blinking out of existence.  In the real world, that doesn't really happen.  So that is more difficult for me on top of being a more difficult subject matter. 

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July and I hope that the summer holds some fantastic adventures for us all!!

Until the next! xx