Craft - August Progress

Here's the San Francisco cross stitch.

I haven't made much progress on it in the last few days, but I'm nearing the finish line.

On the sewing front, I started work on a dark green dress for work. I am using Simplicity 8137 View B. I previously made View A in a colorful floral for this year's summer weddings. The fabric for this new make is a forest green 100% cotton broadcloth I bought from onlinefabricstore.com. It'll be perfect for work. Stockings and boots in the winter, sandals in the summer.

I've only just cut out the pieces. I cut out a size 14 skirt and graded from a size 10 bust to a size 14 waist for the bodice. I'm not going to do the sleeves. I haven't gotten to that skill yet. Plus, I don't have a lot of fitted sleeves in my wardrobe. I bother me a bit when wearing. Normally if I need to cover my arms, I throw on a cardigan.

I'm hoping this will take me just a week to sew.

Fire Island - Weekend Getaway

Since our vacation was nice but not truly relaxing, my husband and I decided to do a late summer weekend beach getaway.

Every year, we go out to Fire Island at the end of the season. Like the last weekend of the season. AKA mid-October. It is usually gray and cool, not really swimsuit weather, but boy is it quiet. And sometimes getting out of NYC only means finding a place where you can go 24 hours without hearing a siren.

Fire Island is a beautiful place at any time of year. It's just harder to get to outside of the summer season.

This year we needed some beach time - swimsuits, ocean dips, and sunscreen - so we opted to go earlier, mid-August.

Last weekend was perfect. The weather was lovely and bright, just slightly hot. The only rain was when we had to switch from the train to the taxi. (It always rains when we get off of the train. It's a running gag.) And also when we were already heading home.

Beach side homes. Rumor has it (from information we gathered last October) the government is seizing/buying the beachfront homes in order to build up a larger dune, so that the rest of the island will be protected in the event there is another Superstorm Sandy.

Clear blue skies and the water was ideal. Cold, but not too cold. Perfect for a dip after some sunbathing.

Some bathers enjoying (or sharing) the view.

View from the ferry as we left the island. We'll be back soon!

We weren't sure if we were going to, but we decided to book again for this October. It is one of the most relaxing places. And being there for the last weekend of the season has its own charms.

Money - Step Two: How to Get More of It

If you happened to read my first post on my finances then this will make sense to you. If not, read it here.

I'm going skip step one for the moment and move into step two - Earn More.

Idea ONE

About a year ago, I was approached by a guy I was friendly with in my industry with an interesting job offer. This wasn't full time employment but still something very exciting. I followed up with him on this offer, and it turned out he was serious! So over the course of a month or so I hammered out the details - how much time it would take, what my capabilities actually were, and some of the legal ramifications.

Then, there was silence. This coincided with my accepting full time employment in a slightly different industry, so I thought he felt a little abandoned.

The other day, I was scrolling through my personal design email address. And there were a bunch of emails from this guy's company (I'm on the mailing list), and it turns out that they were filmed for a TV show. Now, I'm taking a different look at the whole situation. I think that he was just too busy to broker two completely new deals at the same time. Adding in my jumping ship, he probably thought that it was a better choice to go with the TV show. And I don't disagree.

But now that I'm steady on my feet and he's out of TV land, I'm going to reach back out to him. You never know.

Idea TWO

A newer idea I have had was to branch out of Interior Design and try my hand at copyediting.

I have always been interested in literature and writing. And I envision having a career as a interiors magazine editor is the BEST JOB EVER. But the extreme downside is the notoriously low pay that is common in the publishing industry.

The current interest has a different bent. First, I have been educated in the different roles each type of editor plays in the creation of a written document. Who knew I have been copyediting my entire life?!? I am that person who can spot an out-of-place comma a mile away. Or transposed letters - Ack! the bane of my existence. Or a document that has clearly been translated into English and not well. *lots of head shaking*

Second, the pay is less bothersome, because I would only be doing this on the side as a freelance gig.

But to begin I would need some sort of education. As much as I have a natural affinity to the job, I have no formal training, minus an above-average high school education. To get someone to trust me enough to pay me the going rate, I would need something, anything to back me up.

I have found an online certificate program (from a legit university) that isn't that expensive, but is still more than I would want to spend on a side gig. I signed up for their free introductory course, sort of, in hopes that it would discourage me from continuing a fantasy about editing. I have also started research on professional study scholarships. I even discussed this with a friend in publishing, and she suggested that I go ahead as she is certain I'm a great fit for the position.

Now, none of this has produced any sort of income for me as of yet. And this whole post is of no value unless it does eventually put money in the bank. So wish me luck. I will stopping writing blog posts and start writing essays for scholarship applications.

*** Postscript ***

There is also talk about finding a new full time job, in order to up the life satisfaction level, so I will also be writing a new cover letter. And updating my resume. What fun! Put those editing skills to the test.

Design - Apartment Redesign

This is an unsolicited redesign I did of a client's apartment. She wanted to do as little update as possible, so her scope of work only included redoing the kitchen and bathrooms. (And they needed it.)

But when I was looking at the plans, and knowing that the best time to do a full overhaul is when you aren't living in the space, I knew there was a better layout. So I drew up plans for a more extensive renovation.

This is the existing floor plan. This is a circa 1920s building so there are a lot of small closets. This also was at one time a studio apartment (the Master Bedroom/Home Office) and a one bedroom apartment. They were combined some time in the late 80s-early 90s.

The most important change is the expansion of the Kitchen, eliminating the Foyer. The original Kitchen is incredibly narrow and dark, so I would suggest replacing the cabinets on the south wall with 18" cabinets instead of the usual 24" and extend them to the entry hall opening. This means there is no lost storage. The working counter becomes the north side with a peninsula looking out over the Living Room.

I removed the walls that divided off the Living Room in order to expand the space. I would then use it as a combined Living Room/Dining Room.  Since I removed the Living Room walls, I reshaped the Vestibule to the Bathroom and Bedroom. This provides a delineation between the owner-used parts of the apartment and the guest quarters.

The closets in the bedroom are combined to provide additional storage. I also combined the Entry closets and moved the back wall to the correct location allowing for additional long-term storage. The Master Closet has also been expanded and the door relocated to allow for maximum storage. The Library has been opened up with the removal of the nib walls. The step and dividing wall separating it from the Master Bedroom are structural and cannot be removed.

I think this means you end up with a significantly more usable space that is better defined.

Design - Not Much Doing

Since I switched jobs from strictly interior design to construction management, my exposure to new, interesting, and beautiful design has dwindled greatly. I have to go out of my way to even see any attempt at a design. Before, I was bombarded with lighting, furniture, spaces - and now, nothing.

I am thinking of getting a new job - one more closely connected to the design industry - just so that I get that exposure. It is the one thing I really do miss.

I'll write a real post about design later, but it took me four days to even think of something to write about. That is the desert I'm in.

Food - Knockoff Whole Foods Orzo Salad

When I first started taking German lessons (Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.), the classes were Saturday afternoons. For the first few classes, I kept waking up at my usual time, make an egg dish or waffles for breakfast, then look up and realize I had to rush out the door to class. I would be STARVING by the time I got out of class at 5pm. I eventually changed my morning routine, but before I did I would rush after class to Whole Foods in Union Square to get some lunch. But it couldn't really be lunch or something so large I wouldn't want dinner, it had to be a satisfying snack.

Enter the Orzo Salad at Whole Foods. That salad is perfect. Just wonderful mix of flavors, the sharp red onion, bitter parsley, creamy feta, and briny olives. Mmmmmm...

And I felt so silly buying a small container of it and scarfing it down on the train. Sometimes buying two when my hunger got the best of me in the market.

Just now while looking for recipes for dinner tonight, I stumbled upon a knockoff recipe, though it sounds like Whole Foods' recipe is a knockoff of another market's recipe.

Now I can eat it all the time, and avoid the ridiculous lines and nasty customers at Whole Foods (the staff is generally friendly there, but the customers... ugh...). Hooray!

My Favorite To-Do List Managers

While talking recently with a women who is just starting out in her career in construction, she mentioned that she had quite a to do list and that she was always worried that items would slip through the cracks. I had to help her out.

I spend probably too much time compiling lists. I always have at least one notebook on hand. Well, two actually. One for personal, and one for work. I use these to track activities that need to be done in the short term. I also have two applications that help me manage more far reaching items, like cleaning the curtains (personal) or invoicing clients (work).
I ended up sending her an email suggesting three different to-do list managers. What I sent her is below.

**All of these allow you to separate tasks by project and allow for sub-groups as well. They also allow you to set a repeating date and get a reminder, though some are more flexible than others.**

Todoist - it's available pretty universally (android, iphone, mac, pc), and it has a nice interface. What I like most is that it has a stand-alone desktop application. I use this in my personal life.
todoist.com 

ticktick - also available on most devices though the website leaves something to be desired. I installed it as a Chrome extension so that I have ready access to it. So instead of just opening ticktick straight from the desktop like you can with Todoist, you have to open the internet first. If you use the app on your phone, it has a calendar feature that isn't available on the internet version. I use this at the office.
ticktick.com

Astrid - this one is great because you can also time your activities, so that you know how long things actually take you. The company was bought by Yahoo, so they no longer support the app. But there is a different version that uses the same code. I used this at my old job, when speed was an important part of task completion.
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.tasks&hl=en