Oh another week

I spent a lot of this week at my parents. It's funny how I move out, NEED TO MOVE OUT, gotta get out, and then I'm back here staying almost a week! I needed a change of scenery I guess. I've gone on so many interviews and i've applied at so many places, it's a very defeating feeling for nothing to progress. I never realized how long this process could take!

I went to Substitute orientation yesterday and sat with 3 other girls. All 3 of these girls have teaching certificates and have been looking for teaching positions. One of the girls has been looking for a position since her graduation in 2009! That does make me feel a tad better, and at the same time worse! What if that's how long it takes me! eek! Well, anyway, at least I'll be subbing soon and making $76 a day, and after 15 days it goes to $100 a day. That is a lot of relief right there knowing i'll be bringing some money in.

On a huge side note, I'm in love with That 70's Show right now! Thank goodness for Netflix!

New Apt, New Room

OK, so I've decided to re-do my room. I've had the same bedding for about 3 years and i'm just sick of it! It's actually a very pretty cream and black damask print, I'm just tired of having it! The damask design is flocked, meaning the fibers feel velvety and they wear off easily. Sadly, you can see an area where I always sit on it and use my computer! I won't tell you how big the area is.

SO, for graduation my grandma and grandaddy got me a duvet I saw in House Beautiful. Luckily, it was just from Macy's so it was easy to locate. Here's the complete look that is shown on macys.com:

I love the look so much. You can't tell from the pic, but it has black dots in the pattern here and there. I have a black iron bed so it goes great. Right now all i have is the duvet and two shams. I am behind! My next purchases will be some Euro shams and a few throw pillows. I'm not dead set that the throw pillows need to be the ones in this set. You can find CUTE pillows from other stores all over that are much cheaper (these from Macy's are 49.50.. each. ON SALE!.. no thank ya)! Home Goods is a great place to go, it's the Ross and T.J. Maxx of home furnishings. My newest obsession is the Home department at Anthropolgie though. OH MY... it was not good when I found this.. I knew that had some home furnishings, but online there's so. much. more!

Luckily a lot of my stuff has black so it's flowing easily as I change things out. Some new colors I'm going to add are gray, chartreuse, and turquoise. I love chartreuse! (Let's face it.. the ugly name for chartreuse is pea green!) Here's some examples of the colors I'm loving right now in some fully styled rooms:

Love these accessories, too:

Love these rugs...

A trend that is returning is wall paper... believe it or not. There are some awesome, fun wall papers and fabrics out there. These are a few that I love right now...

This is the above wallpaper shown on the back wall of this room. I love it! So bold but not overpowering!

A lot of people don't realize this but fashion and home furnishings are very closely related when it comes to what's in and what's not. Colors and patterns, and accessories go hand in hand. When a certain color is hot in fashion, it is also hot in home furnishings. Here's the color forecast for Spring/Summer 2011:

These colors are put out by Pantone. (Notice the green, turquoise and green/yellow... these are so IN in home furnishings right now) They also have the fall colors forecast as well on their website.

Can you tell I'm obsessed with this kind of stuff! I could talk about it all day, but I'll spare you. :) I will keep you updated as I re-do my room. It will be a work in progress, and it may be a slow progress until I find a job! Can't do much when you're poor, but a girl can sure dream! ;)

oops! Let's catch up...

Well, if you read my previous blog, you'll notice that the date is from January.. of last year. This quickly takes me to an episode of "FRIENDS" (if you're going to read my blog, you'll have to get used to that... it happens more than I'd care to admit). Do you remember the episode with all the resolutions? Rachel got a journal and said she'd write in it everyday, and only wrote in it once! Well it looks like I did the same thing! Last year was insanely busy for me, I can barely remember anything! My complete and total focus was graduating. I thought I was graduating in May, then it moved to August, then it moved to December, and thank the sweet sweet Lord that it finally happened on December 18th. It was a long 10 years full of many laughs and many tears. I'm thankful everyday for the friends and family I had who never gave up on me when it was very easy to do so!

So, the previous blog stated that Julie and I were going to attempt to start our decorating business. We are so fortunate that during the down times last year we got to get some work done! Work really picked up in the Fall and when Christmas rolled around we began Christmas decorating as well. We enjoyed it so much, but it was exhausting! We got a lot of the kinks out, being newbies and all, and have it figured out now. Also, having my degree will allow us to charge a little more ;) Last night we FINALLY ordered our business cards. They are so cute! When I get them I'll upload a pic. Here's the template: front & back.

Currently... Like I said, I graduated in December and I have been searching high and low for a job. I had no idea how hard this would be. My field is just not in demand right now. Interior decorating isn't in demand, not to mention there's far fewer people out there who have extra money to play with. I've applied to at least 100 places all over DFW. I've been fortunate to have a handful of interviews, but it's a slow process. I will start subbing for LISD in about 2 weeks, so at least there will be some money coming in with that.

I'm going to stay as positive as I can and try to be patient. I know God has this job out there waiting for me, and it's perfect! I'm reminding myself of this everyday no matter how hard it is. Please pray I find something soon :)

And so it begins!

I'm so excited to say this... me and my aunt Julie are going to give Interior Decorating/Design Consulting a try! We've been talking about it for the past few months now and it just has seemed to fall into place so well! One evening my aunt came to me with the idea of us starting this little business on the side together. I'm in my last semester of school, and I'll be doing an internship over the summer, and finally graduating in August, so the timing has finally been right for it. I had thought here and there about doing residential interior decorating once I graduated, but I wanted to be able to say i was an Interior Designer, not decorator. To most people that doesn't mean much, but when you're in the field, it means everything. To be able to say I'm an Interior Designer, and to have it stamped on business cards, websites, etc., I must be certified and that means taking the NCIDQ exam to get my license. But, after talking to her, I kinda came around to the idea of just being an interior decorator, specializing in home furnishings, and for now, that's just fine! This give me the ability to have work experience in this field and then be ready to actually take the test in 2 years, just as it advises. My major is Home Furnishings Merchandising with a minor in Marketing. Julie's got her Bachelors degree in Business. I think with those combined we could do very well! Not to mention, Julie has amazing taste, and her home is proof of that. I trust her judgement and know she knows what she's doing and talking about!

My oldest friend, whom i love, Kristina, happen to email me during mine and Julie's talks of business, with questions about her new home that her and T.J. just purchased. I thought it was just meant to be! I talked to Julie and we decided to jump right in and asked if they'd be interested in being our guinea pigs :) We needed to get an idea of how to charge people, how to set up meetings, how to schedule and what order to schedule, when and how to shop... etc, pretty much just needed to do a "run through", to get all the kinks out. Doing so makes us look even better for the next client, and luckily we for us we're working with T.J. & Kristina who are patient and understanding and know we're new to this!

So that's where it's at at the moment. I'm going to continue to do updates so that everyone can know where were at in the re-do of the Smith's living room. I'm so excited, and I know Julie is as well. I can't wait to see where all this leads!

Britt