Friday again!! Friday follows.

FRIDAY AGAIN!  Time flies when you're....having fun?? lol  Honestly, I can't believe it's Friday again.  It seems like just last week I was leaving on my very short trip. (From Fri to Saturday LOL)  It's crazy that a week has passed!  One more week until my next trip! (A week from today.)  So, hey everyone!! (New and old!)  Welcome to Friday Follows @ Life of an Artsy Mom!

My name is Krissy and I live in New Jersey.  Just 20 minutes from midtown Manhattan, which is where I am a lot of the time.  I have two girls that are 2.5 and 4.5 and they're my life.  Currently, I am a stay at home mom, but actively looking for a new job!  It seems like almost everyone has been effected by the economy and downsizing from jobs.  No one is spared!!  

I like anything girly.  I spend way too much money on make up, I love getting my nails done, I change my hair color more than I change my underwear -- Ok, that's a lie...if that actually was true it would be pretty gross, wouldn't it? lmao  I love anything pink and my room would definitely tell you that!

On top of all that, I'm a single super mom to my two girls.  (Who I commonly call tornadoes or hurricanes.)  It's hard being a single mom of two rivaling girls, but I feel what doesn't kill me makes me stronger! (And boy does this make me stronger!!)  My girls love each other, but of course they do love to beat each other up sometimes.   I hope the sibling rivalry gets better as they get older. (Wishful thinking!)  I also hope they become neater as they grow up.  I'm getting tired of walking into the living room and stepping on a polly pocket or lego.  It's pretty painful and leaves an odd indent in your foot. ;)  

1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it? I did!  I had (and still have) a stuffed rabbit that went with me everywhere as a kid.  I believe I got it on my first Easter.  Her name is Bunny Bunny (I know, how creative) and if I ever misplaced her, I would not sleep until she was found.  It was like a "security blanket" for me.  Honestly, I still love that thing.  She went to college with me, she went to the hospital with me when both of my girls were born and she goes on road trips with me. (Still!!) Everyone makes fun of me, but I don't care.

2. Do you dream in color?  Sometimes I do.  I don't remember most of my dreams, actually!

3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller? I'm 5'7" and I guess I kind of wish I was about 5'9".  I think if I was, my weight would even out and I'd look thinner! lol

4. If you could have anyone's (celeb or other) voice as the guide on your GPS, who would it be? I have absolutely no idea.  I would go with: Any voice other than the annoying computerized voices that mine has! :D

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot? It depends how tired and lazy I am on that given day. Yes, I know. I always feel guilty when I leave it in the parking lot and not in the cart corral.  There are some days when I just can't even imagine walking the distance to return the cart in the right place. lol

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MY NEW CAR, Social Parade and other Friday Follows!!

WELCOME to Friday Follow here at Life of an Artsy Mom!!  I'm so glad to have all of you here, the new followers and the old!  

1. What is one food you could eat everyday? I absolutely love buffalo wings and french fries.  They're definitely my weakness, especially when I'm on a diet!  I always crave them.  I'm one of those people who can't have their buffalo wings mild either.  I need them spicy. :)  My fries...well, I don't like to make them at home because they're just not the same!  McDonalds fries are just delish as are Burger King.  Wendys fries are on the bottom of my list! (Sorry Wendys lovers!!)  Of course, right now since I'm on a diet I can only dream of eating that stuff....

2. Are you working in the career you thought you would be when you were 18?  Not at all.  If you told me when I was 18 that in a year and a half I'd have a daughter and 4 years later have two girls I'd say you were crazy!!  When I was 18, I wanted to be a web designer for a large company.  Right now I am currently unemployed, so that really wasn't what I was planning, but life takes different paths than you plan and expect.  It's so difficult in our economy to get ANY jobs around here, but I am looking and I will get something eventually.  I would love to start something that can end up being a career for me and not just a job.  Things happen when they're meant to.

3. What is something that you wish you would have done when you were younger and you didn't?  I learned early on that life is too short to have regrets.  I believe it.  That said, I don't regret anything that I did or didn't do.  If I had to answer this question,  I wish I would have went to the public High School around here and not the private.  I think it would have opened a lot of paths for me and I also think it would have made me a stronger person.  I was picked on so much at my little private all girls High School it lowered my self esteem greatly.  Constantly, I'd change myself to try to fit in and I felt I had to because my class was a class of 50 girls.  If I had gone to the public HS, I would have had a class of about 1,000 and wouldn't have even had to change myself because I would have known I couldn't have pleased every one of those thousand people.  Though, I do believe HS made me stronger in the end because I did have to deal with all of the bullying and criticism. 

4. What color are your kitchen walls? Cream colored wallpaper with blue country stars.  We also have a border that's country apples in a basket.  It's adorable and I wish I had the money to completely accessorize my kitchen to match the wallpaper because I'm in love with it!!

5. Do you remember what your very first favorite song was?  I DO!!!! TLC, "Waterfalls" and Alanis Morsette, "Ironic".  I had two... :)  

Now, I have to brag...I must.  Previously I had posted about possibly getting a new car.  I needed one so badly as my old Subaru Forester was a 2001 and it needed a lot of work.  The car wasn't worth the $2,000 it would have cost to fix the brakes, shocks, struts, body damage, wheels, fan belt, etc...  The car was a mess and deemed, by my mechanic, too dangerous to even drive.  He said every time I drove my car, I was putting my life in my hands.

Being a single mom, money is extremely tight and I had absolutely no budget for a new car.  My only hope was selling mine and my moms and buying a new car straight out with whatever we got for ours.  Financing is not an option with the student loans I am still paying off.  I took my car to a few "cash for your car" places to see who would give me the most, and between my car and my moms, we got $7,000.  (Not bad for two cars that were a little older.)  

I believe in things happening that are meant to be because I got off the highway due to traffic about a week ago.  I never do that and usually wait on the highway, but I just didn't feel like it that day.  I wanted to go locally.  As I was driving down the street, I saw a car for sale.  It was gorgeous and exactly the car I wanted.  I took the number down and gave the owner a call.  He wanted $4,500 for the car and said it was in excellent condition, he just needed to sell it because his father passed away and it was his car.  

So.... I introduce you to...

The new love of my life.  That is a bad pic.  I actually took this pic about two weeks ago when I saw the car for sale for the first time. lol I wanted to show my mom, so I snapped the pic out my window.  I still have to get a good picture of my car.  It's a 2006 Chevy Equinox.  I. AM. IN. LOVE.  

It's in excellent condition, just a few scratches on the console. (Which I can deal with!)  It runs amazing and is bigger than my car, which is what I was looking for.  It can fit the car seats as well as another person in the back and is more than roomy.  I LOVE IT.  The only problem with it was the amplifier for the radio wasn't working and the CD player itself was jammed.  Not a problem!!  The keyless entry remote was broken as well.  Oh well, that's a luxury, not a necessity.  As long as the car runs... :)

Today, I ended up in Best Buy buying this lovely little thing...

A brand new Sony stereo for my car.  It was on sale for $84.99 and installation was so cheap.  They had it done for me in about an hour.  (THANKS WILL FROM BEST BUY!!)  I had money left over from what I got for my car, so I decided to just splurge.  After all, we are taking a ride down the shore on Sunday and my kids always need to listen to Imagination Movers. lol No joke.

That's my lovely car getting it's stereo installed. :)  I love this car.  It only has 70,000 miles on it.  Who am I to complain??  All I want to do is drive now and my mom and the kids want to go for rides.  I can't blame them!  This thing is amazing.

I don't know how the hell I was lucky enough to snag this car for $4,500, but I did and I'm so happy.  It looks expensive (ha!) and is the car I wanted for a long time now.  

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Five Question Friday -- Late as always!

1. What is your favorite thing about summertime? I love almost everything about summer. (Except maybe the days when the humidity gets so high and the heat is so bad that I don't even want to step outside!!)  I feel that in the summer my kids and I can do so much more than we do during the winter when we're cooped up in the house.  We are all water bugs and LOVE going in the pool, having BBQ's, taking "Day-Cations" to the amusement parks, going to the beach and building sandcastles.  I think summer may be one of my favorite seasons (sans the hot weather) because there is just so much to do! :) 

2. What is your ideal retirement location (if money didn't matter)? North Carolina

3. Do you live in the same town you grew up in? I do.  I have lived here since I came to live with my family. :)  There are times when I can't wait to move out of here, but as much as I say that, I do like it here.  It's quiet, safe, a cute little city and still 20 minutes outside of Manhattan. (Which is my favorite part!) lol  There's absolutely nothing to do in my city, but there is a lot around it.  Which makes it pretty awesome.

4. What nervous habit did you have as a child that you kicked to the curb before becoming an adult? Biting my nails.  I don't do that anymore, but I used to!!  I also have a bad nervous habit, that I've never been able to kick to the curb... When I'm nervous or excited about something; I TALK LIKE A CRAZY PERSON.  I'm a total blabber mouth.  I also clean when I'm nervous or excited about something, but that's not always a bad thing. HA!

5. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you while on the job. When I was working at Bath and Body Works one season there was this guy that I dated a few times.  I really wasn't into him at this point because we had no chemistry and he became quite annoying.  Well, I was working and he walks into my job with roses and it just really embarrassed me.  I don't' know why, but it did.  That's probably the most embarrassing thing.  I'm lucky, eh?

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Welcome to Life of an Artsy Mom - Friday Follows 06/11/10!!

Fridays are my favorite day of the week because I get to find some new blogs and get some new great followers.  I love new friends! :)  On this great day of the week, I love to take my free time to blog hop and read (and comment on!) blogs that really deserve it.  Let me give you some information about me so you know who you're following!  For my regular followers & readers -- we will be back to our regularly scheduled blogging shortly! Ha!

My name is Kristin but I am either called Krissy or Jess.  I am a 25 year old single mom of two girls from the Metro NYC area. (I actually live in New Jersey, but 20 minutes from Manhattan.)  I am an artist (fine artist and jewelry designer primarily) but I also do merchandising jobs for companies who need extra help.  I love to blog and love to write.  For me, it's an emotional outlet, as is art for me as well.  I consider myself a theater junkie.  I see Broadway shows much more often than I'd like to admit.  If you'd like to know more about me, I go into a lot better detail HERE. :) 


Random facts:

• I never tan.  I'm the only Italian that I know of that burns...and burns badly.
• Because of that, I am forever trying to find a self tanner that actually works well. 
• I love Apple products.  And yes, I am hyped about the new iPhone 4!! :)
• I have naturally curly/frizzy hair.  I flat iron a lot.
• Purses are one of my addictions.  I have too many.
• Yard sales are love for me.  I find some great stuff.
• I love to refurbish old furniture and do that a lot from garage sale finds.
• My room is colorful.  Pink walls with a lot of colorful accents.
• Soon I will be getting a new car! (Thank God for trade ins and financing!)
• My Nutrisystem weight loss bears are my most prized posessions & motivation.
• I love to bead.  That's primarily the basis of my business.
• I spoil my girls way too much, but they also know the value of money.
• The Coach store is my weakness.  Even if I won't buy anything from there, I'll go in and look around.

Want to know anything else about me?  Yes, I've fallen into the Formspring fad Click Here to ask me a question. :)  I answer anything.

1. What do you think makes a good friend, or friendship? I believe a good friend is someone who is there for you no matter what.  Someone who listens to your complaints, someone who answers the phone or text messages when you need them the most.  Someone who you feel comfortable being goofy and yourself around.  I also believe that you should have some things in common, but this isn't always the case. :)  Some best friends could also be polar opposites!! 

2. What is the last thing you bought & later regretted? Oh man, shoppers remorse happens to me everytime I shop. LOL  There is no specific thing I may have gotten, but it happens to me whenever I come home with something.  I always ask myself, "Do I really need this?  Can I get by without it?"  The shoppers remorse usually dissipates quickly, but I guess it's healthy that it even crosses my mind in the first place.

3. Have you ever had a prank played on you? Yes.  All of the time during my elementary and high school life.  It got so bad that at this point in time, I hate pranks and DESPISE April Fool's Day. 

4. What is your favorite theme park?  I love Six Flags, although I haven't gone there too much.  I should be going a few times this year, though. :)  I also love the boardwalk in Wildwood NJ.  It's great for my kids. (And no, it's not THAT Jersey Shore!!)  Dorney Park is also so much fun. :)

5. Have you ever seen someone else give birth? No, No, No, No.  The only time I have experienced birth are the two times I had my kids. LOL

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Five Question Friday

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?  I have always wanted to get a tattoo.  Just a small one on my inner wrist.  My friend has offered to take me numerous times and I have the money saved for it... I just keep chickening out whenever I think I have the courage.  I have no threshold for pain, so I'm just beyond petrified of getting a tattoo.  One day, though, I will!  I don't even know what I would get.  Something that has meaning to me.  I wouldn't just frivolously get a tattoo. :D

2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on? I would take $50 and buy something for myself.  Probably clothes or shoes! I'm an addict! LOL  I'd spend the other $50 on something for my kids.  Probably something they could play with.  I love making them happy. :)

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child? Swings!! Duh! I used to love to see how high I could go.  Now, when I go on a swing, I stay low.  I've become a scardey cat.  I was so fearless when I was a kid.

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?  Hearty.  I love having as much as I can for breakfast. :)  Isn't it the most important meal of the day?  You need brain food!

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?  A mix of both, actually.  

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Welcome, Friday Follow 04/30

WELCOME!!!  I can't believe it's Friday AGAIN!!  Time seems to be just flying by!  How is everyone on this great Friday?  I'm doing pretty well!  We're up and getting things ready for our huge blow out yard sale tomorrow.  Hopefully, it will all go smooth and we will end up with some money in the process! :D  The weather is supposed to be awesome, in the mid to high 80's all weekend, which is such a welcome change from what it has been around here.  The yo-yoing of the weather is just crazy!  I can't stand it anymore! Ha.  I hope the weather is doing great by you as well! 

My name is Krissy, I am a 25 year old single mom and loving every minute of it.  My kids are my life! :)  They're just so important to me.  I'm also an artist, music lover and perfectionist.  I love blogging and find it very important and therapeutic.

1. If you could, would you go back to high school? I probably would, but I wouldn't go back to the high school that I attended.  In my opinion, high school (for me) was just a horrible place that lowered my self esteem.  I had threats for my life, I got punched in the stomach...  It wasn't a very happy time.  I was the "geek" in the class.  (And it was an all girls school too)  The principal never took my side and always said it was "childish stuff" and that I "should be glad I never got seriously hurt."  If I could go back to High School, I would want to try the OTHER high school in my town...the one I originally wanted to go to anyway.
 
2. If a genie appeared and granted you two wishes, what would they be? (And, no saying "more wishes".)  I would wish for the ability to be super mom.  I try my best with being patient, putting up with my kids when they're spitefully destructive and I try to make everyone breakfast, lunch and dinner. (And in that order too!!)  But taking care of myself, my mother and sometimes my uncle comes here and is thrown in the mix; it's difficult no matter how hard I try.  I just want to be able to do everything and not feel exhausted.  I love my family and want to be someone they all can look up to and respect.
 
 A second wish would be for a job in which I feel happy. Right now I am unemployed and yes it is very difficult.  There are times I feel like a failure because I am unemployed and there are times I feel like I could do so much better if I was.  It's not for lack of trying, I apply everywhere and go on numerous interviews.  It's just completely difficult to find a job in the metro NYC area in this economy.  People are getting laid off and I am trying to get into the work force.  It's just a terrible time.  

3. What kids show do you secretly like?  I secretly LOVE Imagination Movers. lol  I find that show so interesting and the music is just great.  I don't know what I'd do without that show!  My two kids are just obsessed with it.  We've gone to three Movers concerts and met two of the guys, and I have to say -- the live show is just as amazing as the TV show.  Any 5 guys who can keep a 2-6 year old's attention for an hour and a half straight...they deserve the credit they get!
 
4. What is your beverage of choice? Tall Skinny Cinnamon Dolce at Starbucks, Diet Orange Soda or Diet Coke. :)  If it's a beer, I'd have to go for a Bud Light.  Cocktail?  A June Bug from Virgils BBQ in NYC.  
 
5. What is something that you would change about yourself (or are working to change in yourself)? I am working on my self esteem as well as losing weight.  I'm half way to my goal and I couldn't be happier.  I can see it as an actual accomplishment for myself and I am the lowest weight I have been in YEARS!!  I know I'll accomplish it by the fall and when that happens...get ready for the biggest party ever! :)

So guys, now that you know a little more about me -- Follow, Comment, have a blast!  Don't forget about following us on twitter and fanning us on Facebook. :)  We return all comments, follows and so on!  I love finding and reading new blogs!  Also, feel free to read and comment on whatever post you'd like!  

FRIDAY FOLLOWER APPRECIATION GIVEAWAY: That also happens today!  This time, I am sending one lucky Friday Follower a handmade bracelet!  I will contact them on Monday to ask about style and color. :)  All you have to do to enter is comment and follow us!  

Comment Prompt:  What is your guilty pleasure? 

 

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Five Question Friday - 04/02/10

 

1. Do you sing out loud in the car when you're driving? Yes, I most definitely do!  That's probably the only time I will ever sing in public. (Even though I have been told that I have a great voice.) I'm a very shy person!  If someone else is in the car with me, I'll just hum along to the music or mouth the words. Well, unless it's just my kids.  I sing, dance and act crazy around them.  They actually compliment me on my singing! My 4 year old thinks I should be a rockstar.  This is why I love kids! LOL

2. What would you never be caught doing? I would never be caught going out somewhere without makeup or doing my hair!!  When I was younger I had no problem doing any of this.  I don't know why it's such an issue now!  I'm so concerned with the way I look and I want to look perfect at all times.  Of course, this bothers my mom to no end, but she'll have to deal with my beauty obsession.

3. Will you go #2 in a public restroom?  NO!! Not unless it is an emergency and I can't get home.  Hell, I can't even do #1 in a public restroom.  I seriously have public bathroom phobia.  I just can hardly ever go in them unless I absolutely have to.  It has been like this all my life.

4. Have you ever broken a bone?  I have had many injuries requiring me to wear a cast, but only once broke a bone.  I broke my ankle during a figure skating exhibition when I was 16.  I used to be a locally competitive figure skater.  Our local skating club was doing an exhibition and I was with my synchro team.  I don't even remember what happened, I really didn't fall, my skate just got a little tangled in with a new girl who really had NO idea what she was doing and it just turned the wrong way.  I finished the exhibition and had no idea it was even broken.  It hurt, but I said I could deal with it.  When I went to take my skate off, it started to swell.  So my mom tied my skate back up, I put my blade protectors on my skates and I went to the ER in my figure skates.  Turns out it was broken and I had to have a cast and crutches.  I hated those things.

5. Do you prefer cooking or baking?  I love doing both.  Unfortunately, time restraints with life have forced me to put that on the back burner usually.. Now I am more inclined to throw something in the microwave than actually cook.  I want to make a promise for that to change.

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