PeachLantern

Early AM

I had today (well, yesterday now) off because my extern at work completed their hours. I have tomorrow (... today?) off as well, so I'm going to spend as much time as possible just burning through all the backburner pixel ideas that I've put off for something else.

The Fragrance header is done as far as I'm concerned.

The Halloween page is still a plan, as well as a winter holiday page, a toy box, and a frog shrine. ...I dunno, dude. I just really like frogs.

There's going to be a group yard sale at our house next weekend (my long weekend) so I'm not sure how productive I can be then (as far as the site goes), but I'm expecting a massive purge of indoor and garage stuff to happen. I'll probably go through more things when I wake up and add to the pile of things to go out for the picking. Every season I try to lose a few more things. I'm not a minimalist by any means, but I've collected a LOT of stuff over the years and some of it has lost either its relevance, use, or meaning; these things should find people that they'll bring joy to rather than just exist here.

After a long discussion earlier today/yesterday it looks like I may be going to New England around Halloween time. I am STOKED. I really like the amount of variety that the west coast has for events, but the east coast has the history and the actual locations where weird stuff has happened. The downside I'm being told about is that it's actually fucking cold out there in October. Cold to me is anything below 73F, so fucking cold is below 40F. I'm being told to expect it to be in the 30s, and to be wet cold rather than dry. I have coats... but I don't know how they're going to hold up in "real" winter. Send halp.

Progress is ongoing

The header for the Fragrance (and later Self Care) page is about 70-80% done. I feel so distracted by other pages that I want to get up and going, but making myself sit down tonight and not start a new project let me focus on at least finishing the outline and filling in the open space. More details will get filled in later this week or next. At least this part goes by fast.

Work is going alright. My health is the one thing keeping me from going all out and taking on a few more hours. Tuesdays are just teaching/training days for me, but with how yesterday went I'm postponing it. I get random nausea waves throughout the day every few weeks and yesterday was rough; today started off similar so I'm just going to stay home.

My current pixel "thrill" is the idea of making a Halloween page, despite it only being May. I have ideas for decor, for adoptables... but the layout I just can't picture and that'll hold me up for months. Maybe I'll just go simple on the layout and focus only on the material Yeah, that's a lie. I like Halloween waaaay too much to disrespect it that way. :P

I also saw a Christmas shrine just today that sparked interest. I don't necessarily "celebrate" Christmas but I like the aesthetics and the nostalgia that comes from just loitering on the page, even if it's the "wrong" time of year. I could see myself starting on pixel art for something like that right now and not feeling out of place. I'm picturing highly saturated graphics, almost SayClub-like, possibly with animations, in cozy ideas. It's about the charm of the season and the coziness for me, and the memories of everyone being warm and content after brisk moments outside to appreciate the decorative lights on houses. ... And now I want to put up the holiday lights 7 months in advance.

Been living

I went to a safari park on Monday after putting it off for weeks... and wore myself out. It was hot ahd kind of humid out there; I do fine with dry heat, but humidity and sun just murder me. I went in a half-sleeve shirt, sunscreen, sunglasses, umbrella (parasols aren't ideal in this kind of sun), and drank water all day... but still ended up dehydrated. It should have been a giveaway that I was getting to that point when I walked right by two churro stands and wasn't hungry at all, but I was in such a rush to see everything in this giant park before it closed that I just ignored it. I paid the price- sick the next morning and having to recover for the next two days.

The time I spent at home was pretty pixel-heavy, though- I'm not as far on the new page coding (like, it's kinda done, but it's not "me" yet), but I'm making page decor for the sections and I'll be sharing pieces between pages to save time.

Eau de Parfum has been getting a lot of my decor pieces as they're all perfume based. The plan is to pixel all of my fragrances for the fragrance page (only one page links to there currently, and that link might be broken), and I still have at least 4 to go (I don't think I'm going to include the Bath & Body Works sprays). I'm loving how they're coming out, though. This project has been fun, and my art-bud ChaoticGoode has jumped in on the fun as well. It's even more fun when we have projects going at the same time- I don't know why that is, but it's motivating.

Since last time, I've bought two more squishmallows.

Full disclosure- I have never actually had a guava. I think I "needed" this because it A) looks like a cross between a cactus and a watermelon, and B) it reminds me of my favorite npc race of monster in Guild Wars 2: the choya. They are little sentient cactus monsters that squawk and natter gibberish, and when you kill them (in the moments where they are aggressive mobs) they explode into fruit slices like halved watermelons and other fruits. ... I also didn't read the description so it was a surprise when this one showed up at took up nearly a quarter of my bed.

I think I'm just trying to collect some of the sakura blossom plushes from the series, but I'm done now. I have this flying squirrel (and it's huge; almost as big as the guava!) and a cat, and that's enough. The other ones don't have my attention at all.

I'd mentioned this plush in a previous entry. This is the new/less loved on version of my childhood "teddy bear" (snow leopard). I actually got out the original and put it through the washing machine, and now both sit side by side. Getting that one out from the storage box my other plushes from other the years were in, though, got me going through them. About 5 were gifted away to neighbors (tags still attached), and 2 are going to be donated. They have tags and are in great condition, but I have no attachment to them anymore. I may have to go through that box again in a month and see what else can either go out into the world or go into the box for storage. There's a plan to get rid of a lot of things and be prepping to move, but this month and last have been set backs on that, so I need to refocus.

Resting Today

Today is Mother's Day and I'm relaxing. My mom and I went out and had an adventure yesterday so we're set; she doesn't like huge crowds or waiting over 30 minutes to get a table anywhere so usually Mother's Day and other event days are celebrated a few days beforehand with us. Where we went was rife with tea houses, and almost EVERYONE was dressed up in frilly hats, fascinators, and floppy sleeved Easter looking dresses for them. ... That is not my scene in the least. Thankfully it isn't hers, either, so we got to breeze past that and check out boho stores and gardens in the area.

There's a new fragrance at Sephora from LoveShackFancy called Sweetheart that is catching my eye, but I'm too lazy to go and try it/rule it out. With my luck it'll end up being wonderful and I'll have another one that I want to buy. I love the scents that I have already (page coming soon) and don't need any others, but there's something about fruity scents that makes me want to go and check it out.

Quiet Morning

This feels like the calm before the errand storm. I have to return a phone (yeah, same phone) to the store since the company still hasn't sent me a mailer and I don't want this to appear on my next bill, bring some things to the UPS store to go back to Amazon, pick up a replacement primer at Ulta and sample a perfume to see if it's worth it to buy the limited edition bottle of it.

Is this any more perfect for my island mood right now? First the tropical drink bullet journal (out of NOWHERE for them!), and now a sunset colored kitty perfume! Hopefully it doesn't make me gag when I smell it. I'm not really into gourmand scents... natural fruit is great, but any "baked" scents make my face look like I'm melting when it hits me.

Brief Update

The Tropical Island Version header is finally done. I uploaded the Desert header as well despite it being fairly far from done, just so I can try to update that one as often. Having daily updates actually motivated me to work on the Tropical one a bit more. Another thing that helped was setting 30-minute interval timers to rotate between that and other pixel projects; it broke up the monotony a bit if I started to zone out while focusing on just LEAVES or PETALS or SAND. I tried using a 15 minute timer but found that wasn't enough; I'd get into a groove and the timer would go off to switch. 30 minutes seems like a happy balance for working on 2-5 things, given the time to have it chime that many times.

There's another potential pixel clique in the making. There's a bit of work to do with that one just yet, but the idea is there and I've got plans for the template (just one) and the header. That might be a May thing.

Plans are set for a vacation in July so I'll be offline for a week, enjoying the desert. It's about time that I get out of the house aside from errands or work-related stuff. There's a good chance that I pick up some influence out there (if not earlier) and bring some of my heritage into my art for a bit.

Productive Day!

I had the day off so I finished off a few pixel projects. There's still a few headers that I want to get going, but I'm slowing down with those until I finish the main one. I've made some decent progress on that one, though; maybe another day or two and it should be done.

Ash has a hot spot by her tail that I'm treating, so that's on my mind while I work on everything. It's Day 2 of treatment, and so far, so good.

Happy Memories Revived

I was looking through SakuraDreams's plushie page and had a random thought... what if my old "teddy bear" (it was a plush snow leopard, not a bear) still exists in the world, but less loved on? I remember the brand because my mom told me it was his name, and after a fairly short search... his "new form" was on Mercari. I had no idea that he was originally black and white; to me he was always black and bluish gray. ...I still have my original one, tucked away in a sterilite bin in the closet for safe keeping. And now there's a new one with tags on the way for comparison. I don't know why I needed this, but it brought back such happy memories to see what he once looked like, and that he was still available out there despite being over 40 years old (shh, I don't want to talk about that).

Day Off

I'm starting to feel like I need a dedicated day for bullet journaling and another for this site where I do not answer texts or get on Discord- no distractions. Between work, my family, and random "Hey, you're missing this!" messages on Discord, I'm not getting anything done.

Behind the Scenes

I guess I need some sort of blog to go over what's going on while I'm not actively updating at the speed that I was. I'm still actively pixeling, but I'm working on art for the main page that I haven't introduced just yet. There's going to be a makeover that might be a slow install, but I'm trying to finish as many components as possible and then figure out how to code them in. Right now, I'm drawing.

I'm also working around my work schedule, which has gotten waaaay more complicated than expected. Not only am I working (medical field adjacent), I'm also personally teaching interns, training new employees, and organizing breaktime hands-on exchanges between the interns and employees so that they can get the most out of their time with our location. This means I'm going in on my usual days off for a few hours; at this point I'm there 6 days a week, though not working full time. So... things are a little slower, but not abandoned!

In real life news, I finally upgraded my current phone of 4 years to the newest model. I also switched carriers because V had the most good reviews from people I know vs T-Mobile. I. Cannot. Begin. To explain how much of a HUGE pain the ass that process was. I left the store with a new phone (free, just paid tax) and was told that it was basically plug-and-play to switch all of my contacts/photos/texts into the new one with the USB-C transfer cable included. I was lied to; not about the process necessarily, but because nothing that I did in-store was submitted and V had no record of me A)purchasing a phone, B)signing up with them, C)transferring my phone number. I was left holding a phone with no SIM card that couldn't make or receive calls. FUN! 2 hours later the following day and six reps later... it works. None of it was their fault, but it was 100% on the shoulders of the in-store employees that closed shop and didn't submit anything of mine. *throws up arms and storms out*

My response: jump on Amazon and buy myself a Squishmallow. The ADULT thing to do, right?

Did it fix everything? No. Did it make me feel better? A little. That's how I'm justifying it. I even included a friend in on the impulse "F-this" shopping to increase the joy of it. (There's also two more coming from another site because I needed more of a pick me up from the stress of all that noise.