Where has the time gone?

Really, January 3rd was my last post? What the heck happened to the last month and a half! I seem to have started a new pattern- go to work, get home, eat dinner, go to bed. I don't know if I entirely agree with people who say that you have more energy in your second trimester. I am certainly less nauseous, but still just as tired.
This last month and a bit have caused us to rearrange and reorganize a bit. Here are some of the highlights:
We listed our condo in Edmonton for sale.
We decided to move in April to a new place in Victoria.
We went to Edmonton and Palm Springs for some family time.
Jon was laid off and is searching for a new job.
I was featured in a magazine article for giving awesome customer service.
Our cats have switched personalities.
Jon has started to do all the cooking (and most of the cleaning) so I can relax when I am home.
I have become addicted to the library and am checking tons of stuff out.
We cancelled our cable so we spend more time on other activities.
I am still doing the 52 week challenge and have been making my own cleaning products, purging extra possessions and spending more time outside.
Work has slowed down but all our lines have new products so I have product knowledge meetings almost every morning which makes for a 9.5 hour workday.
I started playing the Sims on Facebook and now remember how addictive it is.

Ok wait a second. Looking at that list I can see where the month went. It's been insanely busy and I am often too tired to function by the time I stumble in the door. I will try to do a pregnancy update tomorrow (now that I am in my third trimester and we know the sex....) I still read your blogs, but usually on my cell phone while i'm on the bus so commenting isn't as easy. I will be back in full force soon!

So Tired

So do you remember last fall when we were thinking we were ready to start a family and decided that we were going to move first? Apparently the universe has decided that we have waited for long enough. I went into the doctors office to see why I was so tired and found out that there is a little one on the way!
WHOOT!!!
I am so excited, although still feeling like I got hit by a truck. I can't believe how sore and tired I have been! I am due on May 3rd so at this point I am 11 weeks. I am hoping that when I hit the second trimester I will feel better (which everyone tells me will happen)
The bump is starting to show, my skinny pants are more memory than reality and I splurged on some maternity jeans and dress pants to wear to work. It seems so strange to be happy about putting weight on. I have spent the last few years doing everything I can to get rid of it. So, for right now I need this shirt:

I will post some photos soon (once I can corner Jon into taking some) But yeah!!! Baby in May!!!

Fringe Shows #4 & 5

Ok....a bit late but here are my reviews of the last 2 shows we went to!

Our Sunday night show:
My First Time
A group of actors and actresses read out real stories from the website My First Time.  They pick some unique stories, some strange stories, some cute stories and some fun facts. They even get the audience to fill out short surveys at the beginning of the show that get incorporated in.

Our Tuesday night show:
It's Been Taken
Two guys work at a comic book store that may be closing, have an invisible room mate who never pays his share of the rent and have serious girl problems. Filled with video game references and fun scene changes. We were laughing so hard for the whole show.
So far this is our ultimate favourite show. We have recommended it to everyone we talk to and still remember quotes from it. If you are in Victoria and reading this GO SEE IT!!!!

Fringe Festival!!

So back home in Edmonton you can count on me to be at the Fringe every night (and most days) while it is on. I love the atmosphere, the live theatre and the people.  I was so incredibly excited to learn that the Fringe also comes to Victoria! Better yet, it comes after so we can see the reviews in Edmonton and choose from there!!
The only sad thing is that here it is all about the shows. No festival grounds, no wandering through the shopping tents with a lemonade in hand, no dodging the random juggler as they go a bit out of their circle. And while I do understand that the festival is all about the (amazing) shows, I miss the buzz. We were talking to friends who have lived here for 8 years and they hadn't ever heard of the Fringe. If you move to Edmonton it is one of the first things you hear about!
But nonetheless, we saved up some money to go to shows (I found out it was coming in April....) They have 10 show passes available for a serious discount on entry so we went that way.
Today we went to 3 of our 10. They were:

Grim & Fischer: A Deathly Comedy in Full Face Mask
-A little like the movie UP- the lady's husband passed away awhile ago and death is now ready to take her. But she's not ready to go.
- Created in Portland by Wonderheads theatre group.
- It was held over in Edmonton and I can see why- we went from laughter to tears and back a few times. We both really enjoyed it. The characters are wonderfully expressive, which is a feat when the plot is all communicated by actions, lighting and sound effects.

Tara Firm & The Lunar War Chronicles
- Tara is the newest pilot recruited for the lunar war but she didn't want to be a pilot. After taking over the job she's forced into she makes waves and discovers a few new facts about the war.
- Created in Victoria by Launch Pad Productions
- This was Jon's favourite of the day- it was fun and had some great references to history. Also, incredible props that took a ton of imagination to make. The 5 cast members perfectly pulled off all the roles.

The Smell Of The Kill
- 3 wacky housewives find themselves in an odd situation that can seemingly solve all their problems (and husbands). But do they have the guts to go ahead with the plan?
- Another locally produced show! This one is done by Dragon Monkey Theatre Group. I hadn't seen any reviews for it but we had already done 2 shows at this venue so we just stayed there for the 3rd!
- This one came out as my favourite for the day. It was fun and gutsy and kept me guessing.

Million Reasons

One of the million reasons I love our new city-

The hummingbirds are flying around my patio eating breakfast while I sit here and watch!!

Mrs.Kelly Latour, Award Winner

I'm not usually one to toot my own horn, but today I am tooting like crazy! Wait, that sounds bad....oh well!
As all of you know I have recently moved to a new city and started a new job. The store I work at carries unique products for gifts and your home and we find that people come back again and again to see everything. Lots of people come in to pick out wedding presents because our stuff is so unusual. I had the pleasure of helping a lady find the perfect wedding gift via email in April and she wrote this lovely email to my bosses:

Such a great letter! And I love that she sent it in to my managers. I am still within the 3 month trial period, so this recommendation pretty much guarantees that they will keep me at the review meeting! What I didn't know is that she also sent it to Tourism Victoria's Hospitality Award program. They loved the letter too and selected me as the winner for the April!!! Yeah for winning an award!!!
Usually a standard work week involves coming in an hour early for 1 or 2 days a week to meet with sales reps. Well, last week one of the meetings was a fake. It was an awards ceremony instead. All of the managers knew what was happening but the rest of us were waiting to learn about rugs. 12 people from the Tourism Board came to present the award and congratulate me. It was incredible!

The Certificate

The Goodies

The Medal

Click here to see what the award is all about!

What happened here?

So my worries over money have turned themselves into a full scale freak out about our whole move. A good night's sleep has become a thing of the past for me- Jon & I climb into bed each night and he falls into dreamland as soon as his head hits the pillow. I usually nod off around 4 and then the alarm goes off at 7. I need to develop his ability to shrug everything off, trust that it will work out and move on with the suggested activity. In the meantime, I have this blog to vent to (and hopefully getting some of the emotion out will let me get a bit more shut eye!)

Right now I feel like I am letting everyone down. The whole reason we moved here was for me to get design work and use my schooling. Every time we talk to anyone back home that's their first question, and I suppose it should be their main one. That really is why we came here. But I'm not doing design work yet. The clients that I started working with right before the move were unhappy that I was far away for the beginning stages and went with other designers. The leads that my friend in Vancouver gives me are unimpressed by my assignment filled portfolio and lack of real experience. I did luck out with my job because it keeps me fresh and current with the design trends and there is a real chance to build my portfolio during my time there, but did we move to Victoria so I could work at a retail store that also has a location in Edmonton? Should I take the bait and accept the boutique manager position open in the Edmonton location and move back to where I'm comfortable? Is a managerial position good enough to make me give up my dream and throw away all that time spent in university? 

I think we have to stay here so I can prove to myself that this was the right choice, and I think I need to grow a tougher skin to stay. This has been a hard month for me. I have been so down on myself for not doing what I came here to do. I have been super homesick, but too scared to call home because I know they are going to ask about design work and I am out of excuses about why I'm working retail instead. I know that I am loved no matter where I work, but it was my work that took us away from them. I am mad at myself for thinking that this move could be easy and that I would just shift into my dream and everything would work out perfectly. I was wrong. It's not perfect, but I think I can make it work.
I read a post by the lovely Misssrobin today (who I wrote about awhile back in my Project 31, question #3), and it was all about the power that women have. It was exactly what I needed to hear. You should read it too, here is the link. I am going to follow her suggestion, I am going to start forgiving and motivating, and I am going to ease up on myself. The only way my design work is going to get anywhere is if I just keep getting up, so here I go again, climbing upwards.

Breaking Even

We have been in Victoria for a bit over a month and are just starting to get up onto our feet money wise. Moving cost way more than I was expecting and then the span that we weren't working took a bigger toll. We were just getting to the point that we can catch up on last month's bills and this month's arrived. I am freaking out a little bit. Actually, I shouldn't say a little bit. I should say a lot. Sleep has become a novelty for me this last few weeks.

The thing that drives me the craziest is that I am so scared of the voices saying "I told you so". Leading up to our move we were told that we would fail, that we would move back to Edmonton and that we would beg for the life we had before we left. I am too stubborn to let that voice win. We will make this work and soon it will all be ok. I know it will. We sold a bunch of stuff that was going to collect dust in or storage locker downstairs and have been really careful planning out meals so we have food to last until cash flow improves. And in the meantime, the lack of sleep just gives me more time to re-list the items we're selling and respond to emails!

Editing

This last bit of blogging silence has been a struggle on this end. There is tons I want to write about, but I have been holding back and not posting because I know that I have lots of family and friends reading. I love that you are all reading along and following our Victoria adventure, I wish you would comment more (even as anonymous and then type your name after your comment) but I understand that the blogging thing is new to most of you. 

The blog has turned into a sunshine and roses showcase. I have only let myself post things that will not concern those who love us. I am going to change that now. It's not fair to any of us if I only write about the happy moments and skip over the things that are worrying me. I am going back to writing everything. Just remember, NOTHING HERE IS A CALL FOR HELP! Any problems that we encounter, anything that we are losing sleep over, anything that blocks our path we will find a solution for. If the only solution we can think of is asking you for help, we will do that, but over the phone or face to face. This is just a place to vent, to get feedback and to look back and see how far we've come. 

Lots of love!

Kelly

via

Groceries

We had heard from many sources that one of the only downfalls of island living is the cost of groceries. That kinda scared me a bit because our grocery bill is always high. I am celiac, which makes breads and pasta hard to find and 2 or 3 times more expensive than the wheat varieties. That added in with our desire to shop local and direct from suppliers pushed our Edmonton monthly groceries to about $500 (for the 2 of us...)
We made it through April in Victoria at $350, which includes staples for the pantry (condiments and spices) and about 90% locally sourced food.
I think that my penchant for shopping local is actually an advantage here- there are so many locals wanting to sell because they don't have to pay shipping! The growing season is also way longer so there is better access to fresh fruits and veggies (and better pricing because they aren't hard to find!) I am looking forward to a trip to the country with my cousin in June when the farmer's bring the crops to the end of their driveways and you walk from house to house to pick what you want!! Yum!

A gloomy Easter

Laying in bed last night I was thinking. This was the first holiday that Jon & I were on our own. No juggling both families to see who we could have dinner with. No scheduling egg hunts into our packed weekend. Just the two of us. I fell asleep thinking that the holiday would be fun, we would go to church, go for a nice walk and make our own Easter feast. We would start to make our own traditions.  I woke up even more homesick. Church was lovely but just not the same. It was rainy outside so we didn't go for a walk. Dinner was really good but I didn't make all of the things that make Easter dinner special. I was already a bit homesick, but today I am really missing everyone.

I hope you all had a great holiday and hope that you didn't get the gloomies like me. I miss you & I love you!

Our Move in Photo Form

So this past month has been a big whirlwind!!

We left snowy Edmonton:

Loaded all our stuff (and our kitties) into this:

Stopped in Revelstoke halfway there and watched our little acrobat explore the hotel room:

Drove through the mountains:

Stopped for photos along the way:

And arrived here:

Got the kitties settled into the new place: 

Unloaded the very full Uhaul:

And started enjoying our new home:

We both started work:

Explored the city on our weekend off.

Coolest bookstore ever:

Yummy sushi:

Visited the wharf:

Waited for Telus to set up our internet, stayed home for 3 appointments, got stood up 3 times and decided to go with Shaw instead:

Met some of the Victoria Twitter regulars at a birthday party for Foursquare:

Fell in love with the things we carry at Chintz & Company:

Unpacked, settled in and started our new routine. So far so good!

Internet Dependance

I need my internet! It is not an optional expense for me anymore, I depend on it too much! It is my entertainment, my source of news, my contact with friends and family and my research tool. Usually breakfast time is spent in front of the computer catching up on the news and responding to emails and messages. Before bed I am online posting my blog and reading the posts from the blogs I follow. If I need a phone number or an address I hop on quickly and get it. I am not from the generation that pulls out a copy of the Yellow Pages for a number! I am on Twitter throughout the day and check in with Foursquare whenever I remember to do it, but they don't allow the same level of communication that blogs do.  However, I was very thankful for them during the weeks of no connection. My iPhone is usually attached to me but for these last few weeks I don't think I've put it down except for when I was working.
I know I need my hookup so I booked the setup with Telus 2 weeks before we moved. I called them to update the phone number on record and confirm the appointment when we got here. I waited at home for 8 hours on a Sunday for the technician but nobody came. I called in, waited on hold for forever and rescheduled the appointment. The next time block came and went with no technician appearing. Another crazy hold time and another appointment booked. This time the escalations department was going to handle it for us, and they were throwing in some perks because of all the problems. Third appointment also no-showed. More hold time, more transfers and finally a helpful person on the other end of the phone. Too bad she came in so late in the game- she had to cancel the contract for us.
I am now connected via Shaw and am fine with paying more money per month to deal with a service provider that has short hold times and prompt service. I'm back!!!

Moving along

I sat down a few times last week to do a post and couldn't write anything. I am so excited for this move, but also quite overwhelmed. So far our lives have been safe- we live with Jon's parents and I worked with mine. Few risks have tempted us, and we are both so practical that even the risks we take are safe ones. This move is a safe risk, but is still scaring me. It would be so easy to say that we are going to stay, that I will go back to Kids' and that we will continue to live in the basement.
But easy isn't always the best option. We need to do our own thing. We need to take a big risk and get our life going. We spent the last week in Victoria house hunting, job hunting and getting to know the city. It feels right there.
I am excited to work there- the high property values make my services more viable. When you are spending that much on a house you are willing to put a bit more money into preserving it. I am too scared to go there and just do design work, that much pressure usually means that I can't come up with anything creative. I do have some design leads there, and I will advertise to attract more clients, but I don't want my design work to be our only hope of making ends meet when we are there. We have received a surprising amount of flack from this decision- the advice I keep getting is that we are going there for me to do design, so I should only do that. Terrifying! I am finding a job and will do design work on the side until I get too busy and then I will start cutting back my hours.
I had a great interview at Chintz & Company (which is one of my favourite stores ever!!! They sell everything you would need in a home and offer design services. I would start out as retail floor staff, but as my private portfolio gets built up I could start to work in their design studio.

We both dropped off a ton of resumes, and Jon had a good interview with Fedex. I also had a really long chat with the manager of the downtown Lush. I would love to work there (and I already know all their products) Jon is terrified at the thought- my whole pay check would go back to them...but staff discount has it's perks! I think working here part time while I am at Chintz would be perfect. They are only looking for seasonal (summer) staff, so once my design work picks up they will be willing to cut my shifts! Plus, the condo we found has 2 bathrooms, what a perfect way to keep them stocked!!!

Oh yeah, right. Our new place. We ended up finding a great 2 bedroom and officially have the keys on March 29th. It is a bit farther north than we were originally thinking, but still on main bus routes and a bit closer for Jon to get to the airport for work. It is also close to my cousin's place, which wasn't planned at all. I think we will hang out with him and his friends a ton- at least until he gets all his permits in order and heads to Germany for a year. Some photos of the condo:

We took a peek at some great commercial real estate, but decided that the move and getting my design portfolio built up is stressful enough. We will still open the store, my guess is next spring so we can start out during the strong tourist season. There are a few competitors there, but nobody that concentrates on local products the way that we want to. So for now we will go out there, enjoy the spring weather and work our butts off to get established. I am going to start Indulgent Designs as my design company first and later on when we approach banks for financing they will be able to see what the business has done already.
I am pumped! Terrified, but pumped!

The Store

So today was supposed to be dedicated to working on our business plan for the new store. I did a bit of that, but was majorly distracted by the funner aspects of it. I set up a twitter account and started up a blog!! I am working with Penny Lane Designs to have a custom blog and website made, but I wanted something to have up in the meantime. Click on the link to see my first few posts there, if you do you will get a sneak peek at some of the great lines we will be carrying!!
I also spent a ton of time looking at retail spaces.
Jon came home and we looked over them all again, I think we have it narrowed down to 5 that we need to see in person. We found one that is just the right size, in a really good location and with a reasonable rent. I think i'm in love. We are meeting with the real estate agent when we are in Victoria next week so we can do walkthroughs of the places.
I also found out that there is a cute Presbyterian church right next door. We currently go to a presbyterian church and love the minister and his sermon style. We checked out St.Andews' website and read a few of their minister's sermons- they seem to be close to something Harry would write! They are having a special Ash Wednesday service while we are in town, so we are going to check them out too!!

Our trip is turning into a busy, busy adventure but it will all be worth it! We have 5 days to: Find somewhere to live, find a way to make money while we are getting the business going & find a retail location. We also want to visit my cousin while we are there and, since Jon has never been to Victoria we will need to do some sight seeing and exploring!

And now, at the very end of my day, I am deciding that the business plan i'm working on is going to drive me nuts. I did a really good plan a few years ago for a class I was in and still have a copy of it. It is for a store that offers design services. I am going to just re-work it to customize it to our application. Even the demographic research is bang on.

I have a spa morning with Shannon, but once that's done I will be at home, plugging away at the customization. Wish me luck!!!

Party Party Party

Holy man this week was crazy!
I spent most of it working on plans for Indulgent Designs, so far everything is going smoothly. I found a few possible locations that we will check out when we are in Victoria next week. I am almost done the business plan so we will be able to go to the bank soon! I sent messages to a few fabulous furniture suppliers in BC inquiring about their lines. I also started a few Etsy conversations with Victoria area crafters to find out if they would be willing to have their stuff in the store. So far there has been really good feedback!

Beautiful bowls from a Victoria based Potter.....Very excited to see these in person!

We went out to karaoke on Friday night and then had our goodbye party on Saturday and I am a zombie today. I am not young enough to close the bar two nights in a row. If I could sleep in I think I could handle it bit better but I worked both days as well, so there was only 4 hours of sleep between each busy day. I need sleep! Badly! Here are some of the best photos for your viewing pleasure (and because they will make you laugh!)

KARAOKE NIGHT

Me before starting to drink....

Shannon, Nicole and I all making awesome faces!

Shannon trying to sneak up on Jon

Greg singing for Nicole

GOODBYE PARTY

Jon and I at the Muriettas trying to decide on a bottle of wine 

What happens when Cam & Shannon sit next to eachother

Cute group shot!

The best way to take photos so my flash doesn't blind me!