Wonder if THIS would work......

I found the t-shirt designs. I wonder if I could just market myself as an artist for hire. Wonder if there is some way that I could design logos for fundraising t-shirts for teams of walkers. Hum.... I guess if any of you have a team that needs a team t-shirt that needs designed... holler! Here are the 3 that I've scanned in from the past. We just printed the designs out and ironed them on t-shirts. Then we made a list of names for the backs of the t-shirts of who we were walking for. They would probably last much longer if they weren't iron ons though. After running a 5 K or walking well, 60 miles, the logos start to smear or crack.


Juvenile Diabetes Walk.... we didn't get the t-shirts made in time so technically, this logo has only been seen by a few people. I made sure that the lizard wore the shoe design that they used in all of the official t-shirts.


This is the design we wore for our Breast Cancer 5K.

AND this is our Breast Cancer 3-Day design. I tried to make it look like a girl scout sash with patches.

I guess this is a start for ideas.

Turn a Hobby into a Career??? THAT is the question!

Ah...here it is.... 3 months into my "retirement" and I have to say that it's getting a little old. I'm not finding anything in the landscape architecture field unless I want to work in Atlanta or below it... or jobs that require me to be registered... GAR!!! I knew I should have kept pushing to pass that stupid test, but you know, I just don't take tests well and I can't justify throwing hundreds of dollars away to try and pass the rest of the test just yet.

So.... NOW WHAT? Now, I ponder what other opportunities are out there. Right now, any other job outside of my field would be great, with the exception that I don't have any other experience. If I were an employer looking at my resume, I'd laugh. I mean, my lar resume ROCKS, but I don't think I have enough experience in any other field to build a resume that equals that. A high school kid probably has more on their resume than I would.

Lately, I've been thinking about the other things that I have interests in. Then I saw an article on yahoo's main page.... Turn a Hobby into a Career. Hum.... I could do that...maybe? I mean, I have plenty of hobbies and activities that I enjoy outside of landscape architecture. The problem would be... which one to choose.... would I be good enough at it to make money and survive... maybe not as much money as I was making before the layoff, but something.... then would anyone actually take me serious and buy what I have to sell? All sorts of questions, but no answers. I just wish so badly that the answer would just slap me in the face. That somehow something would just click and I'd be off and running with it. It wouldn't have to be a living... just something to live off of for the next year while the housing market is in the crapper. I welcome ANY suggestions or comments. I feel like I'm just in this cloud. I see rays of sunshine peeking through the clouds, but not long enough to see clearly.

Here's my list of interests and hobbies. I figured SOMETHING is bound to come out of this... maybe just typing out my list and looking over things would help me narrow my ideas down. Ug... who knows....

Well, there's scrapbooking. Granted, this isn't one my pages. I haven't taken pictures of any of my pages, but you got the idea. I enjoy it... it allows me to reach into the imagination and create ways to tell stories, but who would pay me to scrapbook for them? That takes away the personal touch that folks like to see when they look through scrapbooks.

Fundraising! I LOVE creating themes and ideas to help raise money for good causes. I do tend to get excited and either over plan or under plan things, but overall, they are a hit. Here's our Relay for Life Team- Team Landmark Design. We raised nearly 5 grand through the office and by selling hot chocolate and baked goods at the actual race. It was GREAT!!!! And if we still had a Team Landmark Design by next May, then I'd enjoy being their team leader again. It was very rewarding.

Here we've got Josh and Jesse drumming up buyers to our tent by street performing. They had more people take pictures of them than anything, but they did get the attention we needed when most folks were starting to hide in their tents to go to bed for the night.

Our hot chocolate and coffee tables. This was at the peek and we had everyone working like dogs. I came up with the idea to take big marshmallows and sticking a drink umbrella in them for the hot chocolate. Kids LOVED them and people remembered us all night.

Coffeeville Logo. That's another thing..... I enjoy sketching up logos for fundraisers.... t-shirts and tables. This one was pretty easy. I've designed t-shirt logos for Juvenile Diabetes walk for Elizabeth and for our Breast Cancer walks/ 5K. I REALLY enjoy sketching and anything I can do to help us stand out over all the other t-shirts out there, count me in. I just wonder how I'd be able to market that unless I had a t-shirt maker to partner with. Someone that could make 1 to 50 t-shirts and not cost an arm and a leg.


Elizabeth's t-shirt.

Here's more fundraising ideas... our Casino Night to help raise money for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Talk about a blast! Even coming up with decorations for it was fun!

What about just plain ol' photography. You've seen all the pictures on this blog and my other blog.... if I could just take a class to figure out how to use all my camera tricks and maybe get an idea of how to improve my composition, then I could do so much with that. I still think I have a long way to go before I could actually get paid to take professional photographs. Chris on the other hand.... he'll be great once he gets the hang of his camera. He's done sooo well so far.

Then of course, there's the family Event Planning idea that we've talked about over and over for years. Something that we've all been able to do, but we've not been able to actually make it into an official business.... yet. I just think that even though I'm ready to start, my timing is off. Megan and Steve are buying his route and Adena with the new baby.... they are more of the backbone of that business than me. I'm still not sure what my specialty would be just yet... Adena is great with food and Megan with planning... where would I fit in? Another thing I'll need to think about as well.

Food we created for Sarah's baby shower.

Hey... I can mix drinks. hehehee!!!! Maybe bartend... naw... I go to bed WAY too early to work at a bar.

The Diaper Cake we created.

Julie's tea party shower table decorations.

Maybe I can be Brenda's apprentice and learn the art of making wedding cakes and other cakes. This is her Victorian Charm Cake. A big hit at wedding showers.

And then there's sketching and coloring. Just plain ol' anything you need me to do. My wrists aren't as great as they used to be, but this was my living before the layoff. I would either sketch or color drawings for marketing purposes. I could use those skills and do other things. But would I be able to sell enough of them to make a living?

Some of my past work. I didn't actually design this plan. I took an old damaged blue print and created the design from scratch... every pencil scratch on that drawing came from my hand... then I color rendered it. FUN!!!!

Another sketch that wasn't exactly mine, BUT it's another example of my coloring skills. Who would have thought that coloring with markers and pencils would be so fun.

Now, Keely, if you read this before I see you on Tues.... don't scroll down any further.... or if you do, pretend you didn't see it. ; ) I did sketch 2 sweet little faces for a Christmas present this year. I don't know, I haven't sketched people since high school and when it comes to sketching people or things, I have to be moved.... there's got to be something about the photo that catches my eye... colors... contrast... something. This was from a picture she sent me of Alli and Macy last Christmas and I've always thought of it as one of my favorites. If I could make a living off of sketching family portraits, that would be AWESOME! The only problem is.... I'm just too picky with the pictures. I can't just draw from any ol' picture. It's got to be great! That might be where Chris comes in hand.... maybe he'll be the photographer to my sketches. If only it were that easy.......

Macy on the left and Alli on the right. Pencil sketch on water color paper.

Christmas is Coming the Goose is Getting Fat...hehehehe!

I just LOVE the Muppets! But it's soo true! I can't believe that Christmas is just next week!!!! I keep thinking that I'm finished shopping for presents, but I'm not sure and I still need to get with Loretta on WHEN I can meet up with her. I feel like a poop-shoot for not figuring it out by now. Grrrr.... I will though.

These past few weekends have been SOOO busy, with bonfires and parties, it's hard to think straight! I LOVE IT TOO!!!! This past weekend we had Renee and Andrea's joint birthday party. FUN!!!! But before we get to those pictures, I wanted to show you the surprise tree that Chris got for me. We had been fussing about having a tree. I wanted one... he didn't. He really had be going too... told me that Christmas was about Jesus and not trees...hehehee! I got up Sunday morning to meet Megan, Julie, and Jennifer for breakfast and when I came back, he had the tree all set up and some of my ornaments already down for me to decorate! WAHOO!!!!!!! Talk about a happy happy girl!!!!! The turkey had been planning on getting the tree for me for a while! Here are some pics of the tree after decorating.


I have Grannie's Angel in a really nice place so everyone can see her.... in case you were wondering where she was. I'll take pictures of her and post her on here later.

That was Sunday.... seemed like earlier in the week, I got visited by a cow dog! I didn't catch his name, but old feller apparently got out of his house 2 doors up and wondered to the back deck. It was kind of funny too. His head, when he stood up tall, came up to my chin, so you can imagine what it was like to see me walking up and down the street with him trotting beside me trying to find his house. hehehee!!!

Yep... sizing me up.

Krekel showing him who's boss. Neither of them made a sound... just stood really still until I shut the blinds. I was afriad that she would move and the dog would crash through the door after her.... instead, I shut the blinds and he stood there and howled until I went out there to pet him. What a sweetheart!

Now... onto the Birthday Party!

Renee and Andrea- the birthday girls.

Steve is always prepared by bringing enough wine for an army..kind of.

Andy in his station.... Ladies? Bring on the Ladies!

Looking cool guys!

Wynne showing us her sign.... The Bull! hehehe!

Take 3

Funny! Look at all the people gathered under the mistletoe and no one smooching. Even funnier is Kevin's expression (far left). It's like he's waiting for them to realize it.

Renee teaching Megan how to clog.

So... one more weekend before Christmas! I can't wait to see what we'll do. Already having a Nalley Christmas ornament exchange Sat afternoon and the Chili dinner here at the house for some of the buds. Should be fun!

"...Please to put the penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a half penny will do. If you haven't got a half penny, then God Bless You!"

Another Fun Filled Weekend. Oh how I LOVE the Christmas Holidays!

This past weekend was fun! Friday night Chris's office had their Christmas Party. They rented out Whirley Ball for 2 hours and had it catered. It was AWESOME!!!! I forgot how addicting it was to be out there. And ruthless. ; )

For those of you that don't know. It's kind of like basketball... in a way. You ride around in whirley bugs and you throw a wiffle ball at a basketball backboard. You play defence but ramming your bug into the other team to block them or cause them to miss the ball or throw. It's excellent!

The next morning, I conned Chris into walking with me down to the end of his subdivision entrance to watch the Johns Creek Founders Day Parade. Yeah..... wasn't the best parade I've been too, but it's not every day that you have a parade less than 500 yards from your front door. Here are the highlight pics of the parade... I think next time, I'll just sleep in. ; )

We got there and apparently, one of the two marching bands were performing, so the parade had to stop in order for them to catch up. We were towards the end of the line, so we actually got to see the parade from the beginning. Our observations of the event.... well.... it was mostly filled with people riding on the back of fancy cars.... boy scouts.... a few horses..... 2 marching bands... fire trucks from neighboring cities and not so much from Johns Creek until you got to the end....and a few random things here and there.

Take Cartwheel Kid.... the parade route would be, I don't know, a mile and a half long.... when he or she got to us, that had to be at least at the 1 mile marker and I saw PLENTY of cartwheels. I can't imagine what their hands looked like when he or she finished.

WOW! Look at that nice fancy firetruck from.... wait a minute!!!

We should have hijacked this for The Bayler Weenie Roast later that night! It would have been soooo cool!

Of all the rodeo horses there, this one stuck out in our heads.... I think there might have been something wrong with it because it had a weird shaped butt... and Chris and I insisted on making comments on it the whole way it slowly crossed our path.

Fulton County's Teacher of the Year Trolley..... that Megan and the other teachers of Dolvin were not a part of. Very interesting... So Megan, this is what your ride WOULD have been.

The King and Knights from Medieval Times showed up as well! And the princesses.... were driving the minivan following behind these guys. I'm actually surprised they even bothered to dress up.... you could barely see them through the tinted windows.

Sweet Rides!

Chattahoochee High School Marching Band.

The Shriners.... you can tell you were in the upper class part of town because of THESE rides. I mean really, I don't ever remember seeing Shriners in something like this? That's crazy!

This poor red headed stepchild of a Shriner is what I'm used to! All old and slow and if it weren't for the clown bus behind him, he would have been crushed by the firetrucks that ended the parade. They really should have tied a rope to the front of him and had the other guys just tow him.

And finally, the end of the parade with Santa at the wheel...it was grand.... ; )

The next event for our fun-filled weekend was The Bayler Weenie Roast. It was fantastic! HUGE bonfire... plenty of weenies.... brews.... and fun to be had by all!

This fire was HUGE!!!! You could have burned 2 or 3 people laying down on it because the pit was so large and the wood pile on it was insane!

Just for the record, you aren't usually supposed to have your wood pile this close to a blazing inferno.

YUM!!!!

Jake staying warm

Campfire songs

Catie came for a visit too!

Nicole showing us how to stay warm.... just shake it!

Me, Chris, and his Ten-Fiddy grin. I have no idea where he found Andy's cowboy hat either. Not his usual party attire but he wore it well.

Chris is dazed.... Kevin is confused.... as to why his eyebrows wont go down.

HUGE crowd!

Hi! My name is Chubbles....my mama's name is Chubbles, my daddy's name is Chubbles, and my sister's name is Chubbles.......hehehehe!!!!

More party going on on the inside.

Michael practicing up on his Hippo game just in case he has any challengers later on in the night.

Eat da Baby!

Trent, Jake, and Alex playing.

Beer Pong... can't have a party these days without it. ; )

Game Face

Big Kenny is feeding Baby Kenny. Fingers out!

Megan's turn for Kenny

An inside joke between Suzanna and I..... hehehee!!!!

Suzanna working on her Bucket Skills so she can make some extra dough next time she goes to Athens. Maybe even beat out Bucket Man.... eh... what am I thinking. He's THE man!