Kindess Counts

Good evening everyone! Quite the busy week as usual. I just had to get to the mid-week to enjoy 3 busy days off. The previous week I had applied for a social media marketing position but unfortunately after getting the assessment test this week, I got an email that I wasn't the right fit. The test was timed and pretty difficult so I didn't feel too confident before getting the email. Ugh. The salary was perfect and the duties seemed up my alley. Oh well. Back to the grind looking for a job to replace my current one.

During the week, I did some Lightroom editing of the photos I took of Mia in her various outfits and I think they turned out pretty good. Totally stoked about it. Watched some of the Chelsea vs Frankfurt match Thursday. 1-1 draw so they'll take them on this week at The Bridge. Friday was High Interest Day at Mia's school. It's always a huge event and this was my 3rd year participating. Despite the request that Mia should wear an OL spirit shirt, we decided to rebel and wear similar Alkaline Trio shirts :) I co-lead a rock painting class. It was a super fun day teaching for an afternoon some specific rock painting and blending techniques. The kids had a great time and I'll be returning next year to do the same thing. Mia's super stoked that when she's a 3rd grader, she'll have a bigger variety of classes to chose from which will include the rock painting one. She did some string art, slime making, pony beads and some community service work. After lunch, I surprised the diva and her crazy friends at recess. They did a foot race before the recess was over.

I had a few more classes before the session ended. I had planned on returning home till it was time to pick up Mia, but I ended up helping tear down some stuff in the lunch room and waited till they were done with the assembly. All in all, really fun day. Later, we went to my nephews soccer match. The kids team didn't win, but they certainly had a lot of fun. We had dinner with my bro and his family after before calling it a day.

Saturday Mia received the Youth Community Kindness Award from HAWS at the Romp n Rally in Sussex. Unfortunately, she built up a lot of pressure and got super nervous. Way too nervous to go up in front alone to receive her award. They even tried to give her a puppy to bring up to relax her and she just couldn't do it. In the end, I went up there with her with ol' Fluttershy Mia who turned herself around so no one could look at her. We were super proud of her as well as both of our parents of all the hard work Mia's done for  the animal shelter. Ugh. We walked around a bit, picked up a few things and headed out.

Mia didn't have a lot of time before having to go do her dance photos in her 3 different costumes. They looked pretty good and she was glad when it was over. The photos turned out pretty good as well. On the ride back home, Mia stated that this will be her very last year doing dance. She said it's become too easy for her and after this June's recital wants to be done with it. Interesting. Guess we'll see what peaks her interest after dance is done. I very cautiously let her fly my DJI Spark drone for the very first time before returning to the studio to pick up Jill. She had a really good time and I had hoped to get some photos from it, but the sun blew out the image so I need to do some color correcting before flying the Spark again.

We watched some of the new Goosebumps movie before crashing. I did some drawing as well. Today, I watched the 1st half of the Chelsea vs Watford match before we drove to a church to photograph a communion. It went pretty well and even better 2nd half for Chelsea as they won 3-0 securing a spot in the UCL next season. Now we just need Hazard to sign a new deal and we're good.

This week, back to normal work. Jill's got some dance academy photos to do and from what I've heard, the weather is supposed to be hella lousy. Blah. Luckily Mia enjoyed what she could today. Thanks for reading!

Last Week

Good morning everyone. Hope you enjoyed the incredibly warm weekend, and mostly pleasant week. The week was a pretty busy one. I was off Monday, which was great. We did yard work and enjoyed the Memorial Day together. Mia had went fishing and caught several bull heads. Every time she'd catch one, she'd just for joy. I worked the rest of the week, while cranking out art and design any moment I was home. Saturday, Mia had her very last dance class for the semester before her recital next week. I'm unsure if she's going to do dance next year, but I think she'll move on to a new activity. As a kid, I did baseball and soccer so I understand the desire to try new things. Hopefully, she finds something she's in love with and enjoys going to. If not, no biggie, we'll move on to the next one. After dance, Mia immediately changed and met up with Noelle at our house before driving to Jill's studio for the first Mia and Noelle's Sweets and Treats sale. The girls have been super excited all week about it. With the crappy weather, I didn't know what to expect. The stand was set up indoors when we got in, but luckily, everything cleared and we moved it outside. The girls did really well and had a lot of fun. It was interesting to watch them figure out how to operate as a business. One would get the little umbrella, while the other would pour the juice and grab the straw. They had a blast and honestly were the perfect pair. Mia's shy at times and Noelle totally isn't. It worked out well. Noelle would be yelling "LEMONADE FOR SALE! BUY MY LEMONADE!" And that would get people walking from down the sidewalk over. The girls would get all giddy every time someone would wave and walk over. "WE GOT A CUSTOMER!!" They can't wait to do it again. They earned about $187.00 for the local animal shelter. Very proud of them!

Later, We dropped off Mia by my in laws and Jill and I had a late-anniversary dinner at People's Park on top of the roof. SUPER tasty food and we definitely will go back again some time. After wards, we went to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean-Dead Men Tell No Tales. GREAT movie. Better than the 4th by a little bit. VERY dark for a Disney/Pirates movie, but we really enjoyed it. I thought it was the last one, but with the after credits scene, we're left thinking there will be one more. Hmm...

Sunday, Mia and Jill met up with the in laws for my Mother in Law's birthday. They drove to Madison to spend time with Tommy and enjoy the beautiful weather.

This week, I have a LOT of art to crank out including a special Luke Skywalker sketch for an awesome little 2nd grader. Wednesday, the Torrent take on Kalamazoo FC. They won their last league match so I hope they can win again! This weekend is Mia's recital so we're all excited to see her in her cute costume dancing.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Meow

Good morning. It was another super busy week with a new addition to the family.  We'll get to that later. For some reason on my last week, we couldn't get a hold of any of Mia's friends to hang, including Friday morning playgroup. No one came or was there :( Mia was so disappointed. I hope we can hang with them this week. We do have a playdate with her BFF Olivia set up Wednesday at 10am so we're stoked about that. My 32nd birthday is coming up this weekend. I'm off on the Saturday, but will be working on the Sunday of my birthday. Why? I don't need the day off. As long as I have Saturday with whomever wants to spend time with me, that's totally fine. I do have a 12pm leader meeting with The Flood, The Milwaukee Torrent's supporters group. Basically, we need to come up with ideas for merch, discuss steps to getting the store set up and how to handle orders and other important details. It's pretty exciting being a part of this brand new team. It's already and honor having my design be the actual kit they're wear at games. I designed and finished the goalkeeper kit over the weekend. The owner loves it, so I assume the keeper's will be wearing that as well.

Saturday, Mia took all of the 251.22 that she raised at her lemonade sale and donated it to HAWS. She was so very proud of herself. The HAWS staff was pretty surprised that this little girl was able to raise so much money. And then we looked at all the animals. Mia had her eyes on an all-white kitten. I would have preferred the the agreement that we waited the 2 weeks we promised Mia a kitten if she stayed in her own bed at night, but since Jill said that this cat probably won't be here long, we adopted her. She's very playful, feisty and curious. She nips a bit at times with us and Mia (which she of course doesn't like) but hopefully she'll get used to it. I remember when my cat back home was tiny and did the same thing. They grow out of it. It's weird having a cat again. Last night, she started out sleeping in Mia's bed with her, but moved in by us and pouncing on the bed the rest of the night.  Mia has a phone interview today at 10:30am from the local paper about her recent Mia's Sweets & Treats success. Tomorrow, we have vet appts for both animals so I'll have that challenge to look forward to. I think Jill's parents are coming in this weekend to visit for my birthday. Sunday I work. No big deal. Maybe my day at work for my birthday won't be an insane mess. Thanks for reading!