Hello Suzy

I say good bye and you say hello!

2009-03-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

Psst!!

I'm over here now! Hello Suzy!

Sorry Blogger, but I've been wanting a new domain for a long while now and it's only fitting that I move my blog there too and I can make one big happy website family.

So come on over and join me!

8. pick a random book to read

2009-03-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Now I really wanted to read a random book in hopes of maybe discovering a new author or maybe just a great book. Rob and I were in Charlotte's NoDa district and went into a used bookstore (back in like August) because what a perfect place to find a random book! For less than I dollar, I picked up An Unkindneess of Ravens by Dee Morrison Meaney written in the early 80's. I mean look at the cover, it's pure 80's fantasy awesome! "An Eleventh-Century Romance of Magic and Love"?! Sweet!

It turned out to be a difficult book for me to read. It was like reading a book in school, pure struggle to finish and stay interested in. The book was about a girl named Brawnwen and she can talk to animals, bend wills, shape shift and use herbs like a mo-fo. She falls in love with a viking, but vikings are bad because she lives in old school England and they are helping the evil Danes. But at the same time, her dad was ok with him and his buddies coming over and drinking with their family/village. In the mean time, her brother joins this guy who is to be king one day if he can kick the Danes out of England and Branwen is ok with that too even though her viking boyfriend is fighting against them. Then there's this douche bag that seduces Brawnen and she only likes him back at first because it's so easy to give into desire when you're boyfriend is gone all the time. There's a bit about a unicorn who can talk to her and the unicorn brings her to this old lady who is supposed to be like God before man realized that they can rule over women and warring is ok and now their God is the man God we all know today. There's lots of ale and wine drinking which was cool. But there's like hardly any magic, the romance was dry and as exciting as dirt and all the war stuff is like reading a history book.

The only thing I liked about this book...is that I finally finished it and I can read something else! At least I did it!

I gotta get my butt into gear and start doing more things on my list. I don't have that much to do, but time is running out. There are I few things I don't think I'll be able to do. I did do my sew something to wear, I'm just waiting for it not to rain on the weekends so I can take a picture. I definitely want to do another birthday list, but maybe keep it smaller. It's a lot of fun though and totally recommend trying it!

1. Buy a House

2009-03-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! The day we had been dreaming about finally came...

Rob and I bought our first house!!!

Ok ok...we made an offer and after a bit of negotiating, it got accepted, but that's like totally getting it! ^_~

We got a lovely 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath, two story house with an awesome .30 acre backyard. We lucked out and found this house right away. We saw about 14 houses in all. We loved it, it had everything we wanted and it totally worked for us. The neighborhood is real nice and we have a walking trail that in the future will be connected to the greenway and in the far future all greenways will connect and we could travel practically to South Carolina. Sweet! If everything goes according to plan, we'll be in our new house end or April/beginning of May.

I can't wait to see what we do with it. Rob will have his own office/space and I'll have my own craft room. We'll grow yummy veggies and beautiful bee and butterfly friendly flowers. Spend warm days lounging in the back yard with the dog and cold days in front of the fireplace. And of course, we'll start a family and have dogs, cats and kids running around the place: )

Can't wait to start posting pictures and adventures of moving in! But in the mean time, here's the outside of our house!

Class of 2009!!! Whoooooo!

2009-02-26T16:20:00.002-08:00

This past Saturday was a special day in the Biddiscombe family...Molly graduated from her beginner training classes at Petsmart!

For the past 8 weeks we've been taking her to training classes at Petsmart. At first I was kind of hesitant because she didn't really have a lot of problems other than pulling on the leash when she sees squirrels and she did kind of know some commands. But I'm so glad we took these classes! We learned so much and in ways we wouldn't have thought to teach certain things. She had lots of fun too and listens so much better to us now. We still need to practice her commands outside, but it's been hard with no fenced in yard and it being freezing. She is better and will listen and sit for me sometimes and doesn't pull so much.

Another thing that really really helped our training with Molly is watching hours of the Dog Whisper and reading Cesar Millan's Be the Pack Leader . His other books are good, but that's the best one. I love Cesar Millan a little too much sometimes, but he just GETS it. Heh.

11. Donate to a charity

2009-01-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today I was able to cross off something else on my list and that's to donate to a charity. The charity I chose to donate to is Child's Play, a charity by gamers who donate money and toys to different children's hospitals. How cool is that? I had actually donated $5 to Child's Play when GoNintendo did a charity event at the warehouse and they played oldschool games for 12 hours straight. But, pfft $5? I can do better than that. So today I donated a children's book about milk allergies and SpongeBob Squarepants Draw to Life DS game: )

Of course I don't want to stop there! I feel so fortunate in finally getting a good paying job, that I feel it's important to give a bit of that to organizations that need help. I have so many charities and causes I'd like to donate to. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while now and it's a shame that I haven't done it before, because sometimes just a couple of dollars makes a difference.

Till next time take care!

And also....keep warm!! It's pretty chilly out there. So cuddle up, drink tea, have some soup, sit by the fire, or what ever else you do to keep warm.

First Steps!

2009-01-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

Today Rob and I did something we've been dying to do for about a year now....we met with a realtor!!!

Yup, we took the first steps into buying our first home! We actually found our realtor, Mr. George Neyer through the ads on the back of our church bulletin. I mean, you're advertising yourself on like God's newspaper here, you better be a good person right? Luckily for us, he is! We also filled out an application with the mortgage consultant and found out we have awesome credit! Whoo hoo! We don't have an exact amount on what we can afford, but our realtor told us we'd most likely be good with $180k! Me and Rob were thinking more like $150k and there's soooooooo many good homes in that price range also. And, of course, we're buying at such a great time. (which makes me feel kind of bad knowing so many people are struggling) Late next month we'll start looking and hope to find something between March and April and move in by May.

This has gotten us so extremely excited! To finally be able to own a home and knowing that we can afford something that in New York or Arizona would be WAY out of our league. In fact, most of the homes here are way better than anything you can get in Arizona....yard, trees....space.....

OMG! I can't WAIT to start decorating and painting and having space for my crafts and books and a garden.

Another first step is that I bought a copy of the 2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market so I can start the process of freelancing my illustrations. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long long time and I feel that if I don't do it now, I'll just chicken out and never do it. I may not get any jobs or I might get a lot, as long as I tried, I think I'll be happy^_^

In other news, my job is going really great! I have fun what I do, I like the people I work with (which is so important because in the back it mostly just me and one other guy) and I'm busy, which is awesome. I want to stay at this place for a long time and that's real cool. Rob's new job is going great too, although the boys at his work are making him play WAY too much Call of Duty at home, heh. Molly is still amazing us everyday with her great behavior and love. We just started taking her to doggy classes, which is fun and challenging, but so good and important that we're doing this. Faith, on the other hand, is still choosing to stay in the bedroom, but we are giving love and patience and hopefully a nice sunroom in our new house.

I've also marked some things off my list:

28. Go to a Farmer's Market 10/25 - Ok, so this happened a while ago, but I never wrote about it. We stopped by the WNC Farmer's Market while on our anniversary trip to Asheville. We got apples, bell peppers, tomatoes and of course, pumpkins for Halloween.

25. Have Fondue 1/02 - Rob and I've been wanting to go to the Melting Pot for like years now. So wanting something a little different for dinner, we decided to go there. Yeah, it's a lot of money, but it was a lot of fun. I like being able to be interactive with your food. And the dark chocolate cherry fondue at the end was sooooooo yummy. Also, Rob's mom got us a little electric fondue which I can't wait to use.

And that's about it! Good stuff! Yay for 2009! Hope everyone else's 2009 is going good also.

Good Bye 2008!

2008-12-31T05:54:00.000-08:00

Well, tonight we say good-bye to 2008. I'm sure a lot of people can agree when I say I'm glad this year is over. Not that it was a bad year, but it was certainly not easy for us. Rob and I are spending the night at home playing video games and board games, eating bite size foods and celebrating with prosecco.

Some unforgettable moments of 2008:

- Fainting and going to the hospital

- Rob and I agreeing that New York is not for us and deciding to move

- Switching to a laptop

- Learning to embroider

- Going to New York Comic Con and Renegade Craft Fair

- Struggling with job, no job, finding a job, then getting my current job

- Visiting North Carolina and deciding to move there

- Visiting my parents in California

- Moving to Charlotte

- Saying good-bye to Raine

- Voting for the first time

- Seeing an old childhood friend

- Adopting Molly

- Rob brewing beer

- Keeping my weight at an all time low

- And Rob added a last minute entry to my list by baking red velvet cupcakes from scratch and surprising me when I got home from work today.

I'm pretty excited for the new year. We have some big plans that we hope will work out. As soon as I start working full time, we're going to start looking for a house. We also plan to travel to Arizona and visit my family, most likely go to Asheville, go camping and fishing. I also plan to start up my crafts again, draw more and finally attempt at freelancing.

Back to 2009. Christmas was nice. We drove up to New York to spend the holiday with Rob's family. It was real great hanging out with the brothers and their girls. I got nice gifts, including pjs and loose tea which makes me excited. I also got a DSLite and Rob got an iPhone. Molly was loved by everyone and she had a blast meeting new people. Molly also LOVED playing in the snow: )

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful new year and it brings you lots of luck, happiness and memories.

Also, my blog tends to be pretty quiet, but to my surprise I have some followers! *waves* Thank you! I need to pay more attention and not neglect my blog nor my comments. So, don't think that I don't appreciate comments and followers, I've just been too busy to check. Certainly is inspiration to keep this blog going!

What's the Story Morning Glory?

2008-12-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

So what, I start my own blog and then let it collect dust? Shame on me!!
I guess I just have to play catch up.

We last left off on Halloween, which was pretty lame. We spent the night shopping for dog supplies, then watched a scary movie, which I fell asleep at the end. Next year we so plan on doing something, like go to our friends Jon and Kristen since they threw a kick ass party last year. Seriously, I'm dying to make my own costume and dress up.

Anyways, the next day was a HUGE day for us!! We adopted a dog, something that me and Rob have been wanting to do ever since we started dating. I really wanted to wait until we got a house, but Rob convinced me he needed a buddy now that Raine was gone. It turned out to be such a wonderful decision and we couldn't have asked for a better dog!

Here's Molly enjoying the autumn leaves.

I did some crafting here and there. Like:

A crotched circle blanket to fit in Faith's hidey hole.

New hat and scarf for this chilly season.

A mini Mario Bros. hat for Molly for a Animal Crossing contest I entered. (but did not win)

Other things I've done but not pictured. A crocheted hat for my brother and another for me, finishing the t-shirt quilt which became Molly's for her crate, a silly tiny blanket for Molly and a crotched toy for Molly that looks like a potato. I also have plans to crochet a couple more hats for Rob's brother, myself and my sister-in-law's brother, make another toy for Molly, fix the stockings I made last year, cross stitch something for my parents, crochet dish rags for my mother-in-law and maybe a beret for myself. And watch out next year when I plan to start sewing and crocheting more complicate things!

For Thanksgiving we went to New York. It was our first time back and everyone got to meet Molly. We had a swell time with Rob's family. Even got to eat yummy sushi in Queens with Rob's brother and girlfriend.

Molly also got to play in some snow on our way up to New York. She had a blast!

Something worth mentioning is my love of Nintendo's Personal Trainer: Cooking for the DS. How fantastic is that?! In this tiny cartridge for only $19, you get about 245 recipes from around the world. You can adjust how many servings and it does the math for you and a little chef talks you through the cooking. So far I've made chorizo and garlic soup and stuffed peppers with olives and capers. Both turned out so good!

And to end on a fantastic note......as of this Monday, I will officially be working again!!! I'm so super excited! I will be doing print and production work for a company that writes up retirement and other plans for their clients. The actual corporation does much more, but my office just handles that part. The people who I'll be working with seem real nice and laid back. Also, Rob too will be starting a new job with Monday. We are so happy that things in North Carolina are finally working out and that we can start planning to *gasp* find a house!

So take care internets! I'll talk to you again soon.

Simple Shoes

2008-11-25T13:15:00.001-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I last posted...I want to do a craft post, but I keep doing crafts and am waiting till I finish those to do the post.

In the meantime Simple Shoes has a contest where you can win a pair of shoes if you post their video. Now I love Simple Shoes. I own two pairs, a regular pair of tennis shoes and a pair of mary janes from their green line. I enjoy wearing them a lot and people just love my mary janes since they are pretty different looking and I always get excited telling them that the sole is made from an old tire and you can see nail holes in it. Super fun! One's about to be retired after wearing them for over 2 years, so I could really use a new pair; ) I really want one of their purses too and have been bugging Rob in getting one...soon..hopefully soon.

Anyways! Check out the video and check them out.

Boo!

2008-10-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

Hope you all have a spooky day filled with lots of candy and scary movies.
I'm spending the day watching movies, wearing my cat ears.

Here's our pumpkins that we carved:

mines the one of the left and that's a mustache, not a mouth and rob's is the right one.

More things on the list.

2008-10-23T07:36:00.001-07:00

cactus
Originally uploaded by Suzy Cat

I did a couple more things off my list these past few months.

17. go out for breakfast (sept. 20th)
North Carolina has so many of the places we loved to eat when we lived in Arizona and we were stoked to find that they had an Einstein Bros. Bagel not too far from us. So, one Saturday morning we got up and went to the place. I had a pumpernickel bagel with pumpkin shmear and their autumn blend coffee. It was a great way to start the autumn season.

18. buy a cactus (oct. 19th)
The reason why I put this on my list is because spent a good part of my life living in Arizona. While I don't like the place so much, it'll always be a part of me. I got this cactus at the Phoenix airport last weekend. I named it Walter. And poor Walter, I found, isn't doing so well from being cooped up in an airport gift shop. Let's wish for a speedy recovery!

This weekend we're heading to Asheville again to stay at a bed and breakfast for our anniversary. We couldn't be any more excited about going! And perhaps something else will be crossed off my list!

home is where the mac is

2008-10-23T07:22:00.001-07:00

home is where the mac is
Originally uploaded by Suzy Cat

This was my gift to Rob for our 2nd anniversary. We're doing the traditional gifts thing and this year is cotton. Rob got me a sweet sleeping bag for when we go camping.

Anyways. I first got this idea from The Domestic Scientist in which she used an XBox 360 controller. I thought it'd be awesome to make one for Rob. Later I found this little guy and it fit so perfectly.

This was my first time cross stitching...and while the letters were easy, the Mac took forever that I didn't even finish it in time for our actual anniversary! I seriously sat in one spot for hours working on it. Nothing like a little blood sweat and tears for my husband. Ha ha. But I couldn't be any happier and Rob loves it too. He's also happy knowing I didn't make him a sweater which he so thought I did>: )

Say Hello Suzy!

2008-10-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

I decided to start my own blog rather than fill mine and Rob's blog with all my crafty and arty stuff. Kind of want my own little space. We'll still post in the other blog, but it will focus more on just us.

What better way to get this blog rolling is reintroducing my 28 Things to do While I'm 28 List! In which I try to accomplish all these things before my next birthday and blog about it.

On to my 28 Things to do When I'm 28 list:

1. buy a house
2. take a yoga class
3. travel some place new post
4. sell something I made
5. send out artwork for freelancing
6. plant a tree
7. paint a picture
8. pick a random book to read
9. sew something to wear
10. sew a quilt
11. donate to a charity
12. bake cupcakes from scratch
13. throw a party
14. eat at a new place post
15. go to a local fair
16. print wedding photos
17. go out for breakfast
18. buy a cactus
19. buy original art
20. crochet something to wear that's not a hat or scarf
21. get a massage
22. go hikingpost
23. go to a winery post
24. go to a bar just for drinks and appetizers
25. have fondue
26. have a picnic
27. go campingpost
28. go to a farmers market

pardon the dust while i still get things working here

Suzy was Here

2008-10-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Just marking my spot for now.
I'll make a real update in a bit.

;3

~Suzy