Inside Kimmy's Mind

A lot has happened this past decade, and it’s a lot to go over. I can’t believe how much has changed, and I’m excited for 2020.

• 2010 – Moved to Houston!

I’m going to be honest, although I am so grateful to have gone to college, I would do things differently if I had the chance. I transferred from baby college to U of H and started what I thought would be the most fantastic time of my life. The first semesters were miserable for me, I didn’t have any friends, and I didn’t have enough credits to take the classes I wanted. Once I had enough credits, things got a bit better, but it still wasn’t the best years of my life.

• 2012 – Older Sister got Married

My older sister got married. She and my brother-in-law provided a home for me and made the transition easier. They made Houston home for me. I lived with them up until 2013.

• 2013 – 1st Apartment + 1st Job

My little sister moved to Houston this year, and she and I moved into our first apartment together. I never had to live on campus, and Kat was the only other person I could see myself living with, as far as roommates go. She understands me, and even though we fought at times, the fact that we were sisters made our relationship stronger. This year was also the first time I got a job. I did my best to get a part-time job to help pay rent. I landed a job at a deli on campus. It made it easy to work as much as possible, plus go to class. At one time, I juggled three jobs plus classes. It was tough. I was tired a lot of the time, but I did my best.

• 2014 – Better Jobs + 1st Car

I left my on-campus job and got part-time jobs at Paper Source and a museum. 2014 was also the year I got my older sister’s old car, and it was the best car, a 2008 Chevy Cobalt with its little bubble butt. It wasn’t too small or too big, and I was just comfortable driving it. I no longer have it now, but I honestly do not miss driving. Matt usually takes me to the places I want to go to, and if not, I take the metro. But sometimes I miss the days of bubble butt car. I lost a close friend in 2014; we were childhood friends and reconnected after high school. He and his wife were my closest friends, and I will cherish our game nights always. I’m lucky to have his wife as a friend still.

• 2016 – The Year I Finally Said…Now is the Time!

The night before this year started, I decided to get things done. I got out of my toxic relationship and got more serious about school. I was going to graduate finally. The fact that it took me so long to graduate made me feel less than. I didn’t struggle too much in school growing up, but college was hard for me, and as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t always enjoy it. While others spent their college years having fun and making friends, I didn’t have time to do those things by this time. I had to work to help pay what little I had to offer. But I did graduate, and I found a full-time job. I was the most confident I had ever been. My niece was also born this year, and I met the love of my life and felt my life starting.

• 2018 – Moved in with Matt and got Engaged

I began 2018 by moving in with Matt. I wasn’t scared, and it felt so right and perfect. We didn’t have too many things compared to how many things we have accumulated now. And then he proposed, I was ready and excited. Our nothing of a wedding quickly turned into something. I never thought about planning out my wedding. I was sure that my fiance and I would pick a day and say I do at City Hall. And that ended up being partly true.

• 2019 – Got Married

Matt and I did not want a long engagement. For most of 2019, I felt the pressure of guests lists and not fitting into my wedding dress. It wasn’t as stressful as it could have been, but by the end of it, I was happy it was over and glad to finally be married to the man of my dreams. Knowing that it would be a celebration for us, for two people who hate the spotlight, made me nervous but also excited. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Sadly, we also lost Marco, our cord chewing monster cat. I cry for him still and miss him so much; however, we have Eve and Auggie for comfort. Plus, I am glad to have documented our time with him.

That leads us to tonight and 2020. Time seems so slow, and then you take a second to look back on it and think, wait, where did it go? How did it move so fast? I’m trying not to dwell on the past, and I want to enjoy the present and look forward to the future instead of fearing it.

Here’s to 2020. A new adventure awaits.

Happy New Year!

September

We tied the knot 9.7.19! Yup, I’ve been married for two whole months…well and a few days. We have yet to take our honeymoon, but we plan to save to take a trip somewhere. So very happy.

October

This month was terrible. We both were stressed out. I was in the middle of making some tough decisions, and then we had to say goodbye to Marco, our lovable, cord chewing baby. Putting him down was a hard decision to make, but ultimately, there were no other options. We did our best, and I hope he knew how special he was to us. I know cats aren’t as valued as dogs are, but he was so important to us. Before that happened, though, Matt and I adopted Auggie! He was the silver lining. We adopted him before Marco started showing signs that something wasn’t right. But in Marco’s absence, Auggie has been a great comfort. Eve too. Auggie is so crazy and hyper; he terrorizes poor Eve daily. But I don’t think she minds too much, though. They seem to have gotten into a rhythm. I love our cats and hope they know that.

November

This brings me to November- I purchased a new laptop! Finally, after many years of waiting and figuring out what kind to buy. It’s not perfect, but for me, it does exactly what I was hoping. If you didn’t already know, I make videos on Youtube. (Speaking of youtube, I currently have a giveaway going on. Feel free to enter if you’re interested.) That’s where I’ve been instead of updating my blog. I love editing videos and showing all of the pretty stationery and books that I’ve been enjoying. I only recently purchased it, Target was having a pre-black Friday sale, and it was $100 cheaper. I just decided to go for it. But also in November…I got a new job! It’s only my second week, but I’m so excited and ready to know all of the things. This is still bittersweet since I miss my previous job and my former co-workers. If you didn’t know, I worked in a museum as a Copywriter. I now work in a different museum as an Event Coordinator. I’m happy with this change and can’t wait to see what the future will bring.

Well, there you have it. You’ve been caught up on all of my life things. I hope you have been well, and I’m going to try to update my blog once a month. But I’m still trying to figure out what I want this to be. Thoughts?

I have many different hobbies and I’m sure you are aware already, but hobbies are expensive. I technically should not be looking to acquire new hobbies but here we are. It’s December and Christmas is fast approaching and I was struggling with some gift ideas for my future in-laws. Matt and I have decided to give them each a gift card so we don’t have to worry about carrying anything too big on the plane and don’t have to worry about it getting there by a certain time. However, I wanted to have something to attach with the gift card but I had no idea what to get them. I was thinking in the realm of a nice keychain or Christmas ornament.

We decided to go to  Space Montrose, this adorable shop that houses local handmade gifts. They had Houston themed items and just really nicely made items. Among them where these embroidery hoops with pretty floral designs  and the like. One cost about $55, so instead I went to Michael’s and purchased my own materials to attempt to make my own. I knew this would be something I would enjoy, and now I can’t get enough of it. I’m already shopping around for bulk hoops on Amazon. I like the 4 in hoops but I kind of want to try even smaller sizes. I think they make great gifts and you can customize the designs to the person you have in mind. Doing this freehand is tricky but if I keep the designs simple it’s not too bad. I’m pretty proud with how mine have been turning out and I’m excited to improve as I continue.

I hope your holiday has been great so far and I want to make more of an effort to update my blog more often. Making videos takes up most of my time, so if you’re interested, head over to my channel and watch what I’ve been up to lately. I’ve been participating in Vlogmas, only instead of posting a video every day I post a weekly vlog.

Sending you lots of hugs and good vibes.

My sister Mija nominated me for this little blog tag! Thank you Mija!

I have not done one in quite a long time since I sort of fell off the blogging wagon. But I still very much love blogging and hope to create a schedule for it.

Sunshine Blogger Award Preview:

The Sunshine Blogger award is a peer recognition for bloggers that inspire positive thinking, joy, warmth and any other emotions that you feel when you think about the sun.

The Rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions. Link your blog so I can see!!!
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

1. What is your dream job?
I’ve actually have been dreaming about owning my own Stationery store where I can hold planner/journal meet ups! I love going to these cute stores and when I get a chance to participate in a class or meetup it’s just the so much fun. I would love to own a store like that or even have a studio space that would allow me to have my own classes like that.

2. What is 1 item you still own from your childhood?
One?! Oh, I have SOOOO many items from my childhood but the one I that comes to mind is, a giant Beanie Baby- Batty! After I moved out of my parent’s house I ended up bringing that soft plushie with me. Brings back nice memories.

3. What is your favorite weather like?
Cool weather! Sweater wearing weather! No frizzy hair weather! The Texas heat is just so terrible sometimes, but every once in a while, there is a day, it just comes with no warning, and it is perfect. Perfect park weather. Makes me happy just thinking about it.

4. What is one thing would you change about your current town?
Quite a bit of things but one would be, more reliable public transportation. I wish the light rail was in more parts, saving people from always having to drive everywhere.

5. List your favorite show to rewatch over and over!
Gilmore Girls is always my favorite to rewatch, but as I watch it I get more annoyed with Rory, I still love the show but things stick out now that didn’t when I watched it the first 100 times. I’ll probably always rewatch it though. Bob’s Burgers is probably the better show to constantly rewatch. 🙂

6. Can you recommend a youtube channel you love to watch?
I spend quite a bit of my time on Youtube, making videos and watching them. Frannerd has to be one of my favorite channels to watch. She is such an inspiring artist and watching her videos makes me so happy.

7. Have you ever gotten your cards read before? (Tarot)
Not by an actual tarot reader. However, my sister and I got into tarot for a bit when we were younger. I’m not sure if we did the layouts “right” when reading the cards but it was all in good fun.

8. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
That I have so many fun hobbies! I love to knit, paint, write, read, film, ….anything that allows me to be creative.

9. What is your hidden talent?
I’m not sure if I have a hidden talent. If I do, it remains hidden.

10. Favorite vacation spot?
Haven’t been on enough vacations to have a spot. So I’ll just have to go with staying home for now, I’ve always been a homebody and I really enjoy being home.

11. Have you ever flown in first class before?
And to continue on with traveling, I’ve only flown twice. First class sounds fun, but I don’t think I need that.

 

Questions:

1. What items must you always have in your bag/on your person?
2. What is your favorite season?
3. Do you have any pets? If no, what kind of pet would like to have?
4. Favorite hobby?
5. If you could have a super power what would you have?
6. What is your favorite dessert?
7. What was your most recent dream about?
8. Favorite colors?
9. Do you prefer to blog or journal with a pen and notebook?
10. Played any games lately?
11. Have you ever participated in a 30 day challenge of some sort?

 

And I’m not sure who will see this tag, but I’ll tag, Morrigan and Joy and anyone that would like to join in.

Thanks for reading!

 

I had a birthday!

It started with good morning kisses and a blueberry muffin. Matt went off to work while I snuggled back in bed since I took the day off. I decided to take a shower before the alarm testing began. That’s right, my apartment building decided to schedule fire alarm and unit inspections on my birthday of all days. They stopped around noon so I was able to enjoy my lunch alarm free. The cats weren’t very happy either but I could do nothing to comfort them.

After eating leftovers for lunch and playing a bit of Uncharted 2 the alarm went off again for a bit and then finally stopped for good. I realized I haven’t blogged in a few months, vlogs have taken up my time but  I want to get back into blogging. I’ve always enjoyed it but editing videos has become my favorite way to express myself creatively.  But so has journaling, I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit especially after becoming obsessed with fountain pens.

Watch some of my recent videos!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope to figure out a schedule for this little blog.

Making videos has been a great way for me to express myself and do something creative. I’ve really enjoyed sharing my love of stationery and I want to tell all of my subscribers and fellow stationery addicts how much I appreciate the support. It has been really fun and I’m excited to continue making videos.

 

a Rafflecopter giveawayhi

As always thank you for reading.

Oh, goodness. It has been awhile since I’ve sat down and typed out a blog entry. I’ve been updating my youtube channel every week though, so if you’re interested in seeing videos about stationery and whatnot head over to my channel.

Now let’s see…

Home: I love being home with Matt. I love waking up next to him and going to sleep next to him. It’s interesting how naturally we became just meshed together.  He went on a two week trip to Korea last month, I missed him so much so I’m happy he’s home now. I slowly got into a rhythm without him but it’s so much better to have him home again. I slept on his side of the bed which was a mistake since it is perfectly formed to his body shape so I had trouble sleeping while he was away. But now that he’s back, I’m sleeping better.

Work: It’s is going well. I have a few events coming up but then August is jammed pack with events. I can’t wait for September! Matt and I both have September birthdays so we will celebrate at the same time, probably somewhere in the middle.

Vacation: I won’t have a vacation until December. I took off a some days so that Matt and I can celebrate Christmas in Florida with his parents. We went over for Thanksgiving last year so I thought we should switch off. I of course have days off for Thanksgiving but I’m taking most of my vacation time in December for the trip.

Hobbies: I already mentioned my channel, I’ve been making videos like crazy! It’s been such a joy, I’m now adding an extra video every other week to my video schedule. We shall see how it works out, I might go back to just one video every week. At the end of this month Mind-Speaks is hosting it’s first ever event! We are celebrating Sailor Moon’s Birthday, there will activities and goodie bags as well as a giveaway. I’m nervous but very excited, I’ll try to post more about it on my blog but I’ll definitely be posting about it on my channel.

Pen pals: I’ve been writing more letters recently. Ever since April, which was National Letter Writing Month, I’ve been enjoying sitting down and just writing out a nice letter. I have a pen pal who I hope turns into a lifelong friend but life sometimes gets busy so I won’t take it personally if she stops writing me.

Family: We celebrated my nieces’ 2nd Birthday last month! I cannot believe she’s already 2 years old, she’s growing up fast. I don’t get to see my family as often as I used to but  I try to talk to them every day if I can. We have some Father’s Day plans coming up so I’m excited. My dad will be retiring soon. I’m so glad that he can finally retire from his dangerous job. Now he can relax, even though I know he won’t be able to for very long. That man always has to be working on something. I hope he learns how to relax once he no longer has to worry about whose lights are out. (He’s a Lineman for a light company- very dangerous job)

Well, that pretty much covers the basics. I’ll try to figure out a schedule for my blog like I did my channel. I still love blogging, I’ve just been enjoying my fountain pens too much. I’ll update again soon.

Thanks for reading!

 

Hello! It’s been awhile since my last post. I did something interesting this month, that’s right, I decided to try out Stitch Fix. The clothing style box. You fill out a style profile, let them know what you like and don’t like when it comes to clothes.  It’s $20 for the styling fee and then they send you 5 items and you either select clothes out of the 5, or purchase the entire box. That $20 will then be applied to the clothes you end up purchasing. Plus, if you do decide to keep all 5 then you get a 25% discount. The video above is me showing you what I received in my first box.  I have a second one coming next month so I’ll see how that one goes and then decide if I will keep it as a monthly thing. It’s actually pretty fun, I am picky when it comes to clothes but I thought I’d try it out. My stylist did a pretty good job in picking out pretty outfits, they just didn’t look right on my body type. I’m hoping this 2nd box will be better in terms of the fit, but as long as I find one item I like, then  I’ll be happy.

If you’re interested in testing this out, please use my referral link. You will receive $15 to use in your purchase and I’ll receive $15! Win win! If you decide to try it out I’d love to know and if you blog about it please share the link. I find shopping for clothes difficult sometime. I don’t really go to a lot of stores and I thought this would introduce me to new brands. I of course take in to consideration quality and price. Some of the items are a bit out of range on what I would like to spend but I still find it interesting to try out. If you decide to send things back they provide a bag with a shipping label already on it so you don’t have to pay for shipping.  Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with you and I’ll see how it goes from here after I get the 2nd box. I hope they listened to my requests, I wanted skirts and dresses in this upcoming box, so we’ll see how it goes.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

Matt and I have been together for over a year now and this new year we have decided to move in together! I know, huge step. But I’ve never felt more comfortable about anything before in my life. Here’s to my next life adventure!

Choosing an apartment did not take as long as I thought it would.  The whole packing and moving process will be stressful and exhausting but I’m still excited. We were able to narrow down the area and this past Saturday we went to about 4 different places to see what our options were.  We needed something that was close to both of our jobs. I no longer have a vehicle so I would need an easy way to get to work on time. We technically weren’t going to be able to move into our new place until mid march but we decided to go and look around and thankfully we did. Here are the floor plans we liked out of the 5 different complexes we went to look at.

Place 1:

This place was great, we saw 3 different floor plans but the two bedrooms were either out of our budget or not available in our move in date.  We liked one out of the three and since Matt currently lives in a studio apartment this was still an upgrade on space.

Place 2:

We automatically removed the 2nd complex we to visit and the 3rd one didn’t have any floor plans we liked. This floor plan is from the fourth complex we visited that day. They had a 2 bedroom that we liked, however it was on the edge of the price we were hoping to pay. I did have my heart set on a 2 bedroom but with our Mid-October move in date and price range we weren’t sure we would be able to find one in the area we wanted. This one was a great option, it had the space we were hoping for so it did make it to the running.

Place 3:

The 5th complex we visited was the one Matt currently lives in. We decided to leave them for last to see if they maybe had any good deals since Matt was already a tenant. Their 2 bedrooms were WAY too pricey so they showed us two of their one bedrooms, which again was an upgrade from a studio. I fell in love with this floor plan due to the huge bathroom. Plus, they would let us move in a whole month earlier. Not to mention certain application fees would be waived.

Matt and I went back upstairs after a long day of apartment hunting and decided to narrow it down to a few. We were left with these three floor plans from three different apartments. 1 and 3 were around the same price, 2 was way too pricey so it was eliminated based on that. It was down to 1 and 3, both were around the same space and  across the street from one another so the route to the train was the same.  After weighing the pros and cons Matt and I decided to go with #3! It would make moving easier and if you saw the bathroom you would agree with me too. I plan on doing an apartment tour once we have fully moved in and have gotten rid of all of the boxes. We get to move in early February and I cannon wait!

I haven’t been updating my blog nearly as often as I would like….BUT, I have been filming a lot of videos on my channel. Feel free to check it out. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

I’ve really been embracing this whole vlogging thing lately. As soon as I got my new camera, I’ve just been filled with the desire to film more videos. With that comes video ideas and a lot of planning them out.

Mind-Speaks has been pumping out some great sticker sheets, and so I made a video showing them off on my channel.  I love them and  Mija has been putting in so much hard work into these. She personally makes all of these sheets, I only help a bit with ideas/doodles but she handles the design of MS as well as all the packaging. She’s a packaging wizard! I’m pretty proud of her and these stickers and hope we can continue to make some cute stationery together.

Here’s the video! Please check it out, and for being a reader of my blog / subscriber to my channel here’s a coupon to the store for 10% off! Thanks so much! If you do purchase, please share the items to your instagram/twitter/blogs.

Thanks for reading/watching.