It is my great joy to introduce you to Linda Ha Events Website! It has been a long time coming and I wanted to say a big thank you to Ryan A for all his hard work on the website. Also a huge thank you to my fabulous sister, Julie (of Julie Ha Design) for the amazing logo design. I have transferred all my blog posts from The Hungry Bear and will be closing this down soon. Take a look around and let me know what you guys think! I hope you guys love it as much as I do! Happy Friday friends!
Week 25 (June 14 - June 20)
Full Spread View:
For consistency, I plan on using Design A for all 52 weeks. I like the ratio of 4x6 and 3x4 pockets. Used a combination of Midnight Edition Core Kit filler cards and some printables.
Left Side View:
It has been another crazy week at work. Two proposals due back to back. So so happy that these proposals are submitted. One nice thing about submission day is that producing hardcopies at the external vendor is near my apartment (10 minutes away) so no sense in driving into work (30 minutes away) then drive to the vendor place. So I take that time in making myself a decent breakfast for once and not oatmeal or yogurt.
After one of the proposal was turned in, we went out to eat lunch aka 4PM early bird special. There was a Founding Farmers near by and we all treated ourselves to some Fried Chicken and Donut! Not to mention, the fried green tomatoes as appetizers and this spicy corn crab dip was amazing!
Also, catching up on replying back to wedding invites for some special weddings coming up in August and September! Happy to cross off that on the to do list.
Right Side View:
On Friday, after both proposals were submitted. Took the day off and that so happened to be the day we got our keys to our new apartment. Lucky enough to find an apartment just down the hall. 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom. We have been living in our current apartment for 5 years. It's crazy, I didn't think it had been that long until I went to look at our old lease.
I started to move the smaller stuff at first. It was actually more tedious than I thought. Just because we were just going down the hall and I carried everything. Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I moved the bigger furniture. The bed, TV, dining table. Now we just have the smaller stuff left and having the apartment professionally cleaned this week. I think Bear seems to be fine with the move. He doesn't seem to be phased by it. I think he likes the new place, bigger space for him to run around!
Got our keys to our new apartment on Friday! We have been thinking of getting a bigger place for awhile now. Currently we live in a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom place. Since getting Bear, we thought maybe a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom would be better for us.
Living Room: We are in love with more windows! Our old apartment had two small windows and we would be facing East so it would only get a lot of light during the when we are at work. Wanted a place with more natural light to be able to work on craft projects.
Master Bedroom: Well we call this one the master cause it looked bigger than the other bedroom even though the other one had the bathroom and bigger closet attached. Also the room was more symmetric where we can fit our dresser.
Common Bathroom: It's nice to have an extra bathroom. In case one of us is using one bathroom, the other doesn't have to wait.
Bedroom #2: We will turn this room into an office. I can't wait! I've been currently using our dining table as a craft table. Now I'm on the search for the perfect crafting table.
Bathroom #2: This bathroom currently has the same layout as our old one. Would use this one more since it has a tub as opposed to a standing shower in the common bathroom.
Master Closet: Since there are two closets now, Robert was generously enough to give me the bigger one. muahahha
Kitchen: It is smaller than the older apartment. This gives a chance to really clean up what we currently have.
Bear had already claimed a room. Sorry bud, we are using the extra room for an office! :D
Last year, I had put together a 30 before 30 list where I wrote 30 things I wanted to do/accomplished before I was 30. I have inserted photos of all the things I was able to do and highlighted the ones I didn't get to. I should add it to my 40 before 40 list (man, that sounds old and far far away) Maybe I should do 35 before 35. Lets see how I did:
[1] Ride in a hot air balloon
[2] Learn how to drive stick shift
[3] Skydiving
[4] Start a blog
[5] Host a FABULOUS dinner party (or parties)
[6] Travel to Italy
[7] Make French Macarons
[8] Give a furry friend a loving home
[9] Go to Outstanding in the Field
[10] Run a Marathon
[11] Learn how to surf
[12] Try 30 New Restaurants
[13] Learn to shoot
[14] Project Life documenting
[15] Get a passport
[16] Try a new recipe at least once a month
[17] Hike part of Appalachian Trail
[18] Hang a wall gallery (instead of having a floor gallery)
[19] Organize recipes into a recipe book
[20] Attend Wine and Food Festival in Aspen
[21] Meet a blogger (or two.)
[22] Learn how to sew
[23] Volunteer (more)
[24] Stay at a bed and breakfast
[25] Fill up an entire sketchbook (Semi there)
[26] Take a calligraphy class
[27] Start a new tradition (Annual Holiday Party)
[28] DIY medal rack for running
[29] Get a manicure, pedicure, massage for the first time (2 out of the 3, still need to get a manicure for the first time)
[30] Go Sailing
20 out of 30. Not too shabby. Now to start a fresh new list! Not sure if I want to keep the remaining to start and add it to the new list or come up with an entirely new list. There are a few that I still want to do, like travel to Italy! What are some of the things you have on your bucket list?!
Last week, as part of the "Four Ladies Reunion" I wanted to have a little treat for the girls! A little something to kick off Spring and more sunshine.
MATERIALS:
INSTRUCTIONS:
Step 1: Using the letter stamps and ink pad, stamp the individual letters onto the gift tag. I went with "Hello Sunshine"
Step 2: Fill each of the travel bags with the items.
Step 3: Take kitchen twine and tie the gift tag to the zipper on the travel bag.
Voila! Now you can brighten up someone's day with these simple gift bags! What items would you put in your "Hello Sunshine"?
Hopping on a plane today and heading to the sunny state of Florida! I have been hearing on the radio that they are calling for more snow tomorrow in Virginia. First day of Spring people! I like snow but I am ready for some warmer weather!
I'm not a frequent flyer but when it comes to packing for a trip, I try to keep it simple and easy. Today, I'm sharing what essentials I put in my carry-on. A good few everyday items I carry in my purse already so that made packing just a little easier.
For the smaller items:
For the Bigger items:
As winter is coming to a semi end (talking about you March!), finding ourselves dreaming about the warm weather! This year has been crazy busy with work and will continue to be. But this coming weekend, happy to say be escaping to some warmer weather of Florida and catching some rays for a few days. Will be reuniting with some favorite coworkers aka "Four Ladies Reunion".
Back December, I had put together a post for some outfit picks for packing for a weekend at the cabin. This time around, lets think, "hello sunshine"! Today, sharing a few key items to pack for an out of town weekend getaway.
1. Comfortable Shoes
2. Fun Spring/Summer Dress (For a nice dinner)
3. Colorful scarf (Just in case it's windy)
4. Tees
5. Hat
6. Sweater (For cool nights)
7. Chambray Shirt (Good to layer over a tee if the weather gets cooler)
8. Sunglasses (Got to keep those keys protected)
9. Shorts
10. Bathing Suit (of course!)
Definitely thought of a few more things after taking a picture of this set of items. Sandals?! Yeah oiyyy! What are some of your go-to picks for warmer weather packing? Love to hear your thoughts!
I am happy to say, no more glasses and contacts! I can now see 20/15! I have been debating on having Lasik for a long time now. Up to two years ago, I would wear my contacts everyday to work. Staring at the screen for 8-10 hours a day. Eventually, one day my left eye got really irritated and I saw some white spots on my cornea. Naturally, I went on google and webmd. Let me tell you friends, don't ever try to self diagnose. You will end up just freaking yourself out. When I did freak myself out, I called and made an appointment with the optometrist to get it checked out. Turns out I got a scar from wearing my contacts too much. The optometrist advised that I not wear my contacts anymore. If I do, rare occasions for maybe 2-3 hours. Definitely a downer after hearing that but it's my eyes so I didn't want to do anymore damage to it. Ever since, been wearing my glasses to work and there are times at gatherings, I'll just wing it and not wear it. Not ideal but better than putting contacts.
I had been thinking about Lasik ever since. But I was too nervous and also was under the misconception that my vision had to be stabilized for a few years before I could get it. I kept on putting it off until one day I saw that someone I went to school went got it done. She was kind of enough to provide a lot of information! So I set up a free consultation with Lasik Vision Institute. She had many positive things to say about them. I had looked into others and my boyfriend's sister went to another place but had to come back for correction. I didn't want that to happen to me so decided to go here. The free consultation itself was about 20 minutes, routine in checking your eye and also checking on the health condition of your eye to make sure you can be a candidate for Lasik. I came back in two weeks for the procedure. The wait was the longest and the procedure itself was about 15 minutes. I was given numbing eye drops then they open the flap of your eye and use laser to correct your vision, close the flap and you're done.
Day of the procedure, had to have someone drive you home. That you would need to keep your eyes closed for the first four hours. Lets just say, took a four hour nap! There are two prescription eye drops that you have to put in daily and also another artificial eye drops to keep your eyes moisturized. I went back the next day for a follow up and was told my eyes are healing nicely and I have another appointment to check back in in two weeks.
Currently my eyes a still a bit red from the procedure. But vision why, it's clear and crisp! Now I'm just kicking myself for not having done this earlier!
Another good one leaving. It is hard to see coworkers I like leave the company but I know they are moving on to bigger and better things. If you think about it, you spend a majority of your waking hours in the office. When you are surrounded by those few good ones, they are naturally just not coworkers but friends.
This time around for this new job survival kit, went the encouraging/witty route. Definitely Pinterest had a hand in helping with this one. There are some really awesome basket/kits that people put together. Some of my favorites were:
via Amusing Pursuits
via Gift Pros
MATERIALS:
INSTRUCTIONS:
Step 1: Download Survival Kit Label Printable, print and adhere to the gift box. You can print this on regular plain paper and use glue stick to put it on the box. Though using a label might be a little easier to say a step.
Step 2: Download Survival Item Label Printable, print and attach to individual items. Found some wonderful printable paper online and added desired text to it using Phonto App. Free paper credit goes to: Oh Happy Day, Toffee Magazine, Studio DIY, June Letters, and Ashley Goldburg
Step 3: Fill the gift box with all your favorite items.
I hope no other coworkers are leaving any time soon. Going to run out of ideas if this keeps up! Or might have to reuse ones I've put together previously. Had dug those up and included them here for your convenience. Here are the ones I previously put together: new job kit part 1 and new job kit part 2
Half the time, my mind can be described like the photo above. Constantly thinking and I feel that my mind never truly rest. Some of you have wondered and asked before how I find the time to balance a full time job/event planning side business/blogging/crafting/owning a pet/other miscellaneous things while carving some free time for myself.
To be honest, I don't have a definite answer to this difficult formula. Most of the time to tell you the truth, I am exhausted. That I don't do it all. I do the best that I can and try to make things work. On a typical day would look something like this:
How to do I keep myself in check? I've always been a planner. I like structure and thinking ahead so things don't pile up and I get stressed out in the end. So naturally I carry with me, a planner :D I have five sections in my planner:
Day to Day To Do List
I keep my daily check list of things I need to do in the very front of my planner. This is where I go to jot down reminders for myself. I tell myself most of the time I can remember but these days I just have to write it down. Cause my mind switches from thing to thing and the next thing you know, completely forgot. And like I said before, post-its are my friend, if i'm somewhere and need to quickly jot something down. Post-it will do and I put it into the planner.
Blog Planning
I do majority of my blogging in advance on the weekends. Usually on Saturday or Sunday mornings after I've walked Bear. Brew a cup of coffee and have some breakfast then open up my laptop and start cracking. I think blogging at this time cause it's start of the day, usually quiet and I can really crank out some posts. I usually queue two posts for the next week but this year, one of my blogging goals is to post three times a week. Then I schedule/time them to post for the next week on specific day and time. That way I don't have to worry about it during the week while I'm at work. I found this pretty awesome free blog planning printable that I keep in my planner. The top section, I jot down my ideas and the calendar at the bottom helps me space out when I want to post.
Meal Planning
I have to say, meal planning is not one of my favorite things to do. I think we've all been there. Working and then have to think about what to make to eat. Then you have to go to the grocery store to pick up all the items for the meals you're going to cook. I try to meal plan on Saturday/Sunday and go to the grocery store early on Sunday. Early cause there are less crowds so you're not maneuvering through people to find items and not standing long lines. Lately though, we have gotten Blue Apron, a delivery service with meals you make. You can read more about our experience in my post here.
Project Tracker
This is for longer term projects, I've been working on a side business as an event planner/wedding planner. Client's wedding is in May, devoting some time looking for some inspiration and helping with day of coordination. Also this is a place for personal projects and projects for friends.
Notes
I like to use this space to doodle or jot down ideas. Sometimes when meeting with people, write down things we chat/discussed about so I would remember to go back and look at it later.
I don't usually write this much just because I don't think I'm the greatest writer. I thought it was funny cause you may think, but you have a blog. I love the crafting side and posting the pictures of what I've worked on but writing about it is hard for me. Also to add, I've probably one of the worse spellers you'll ever meet. Spell check is my friend. I like to use this space just for a creative outlet after a long day of work and just doing something I'm passionate about.
My name is Linda Ha. Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I wanted to use this space as a creative outlet by sharing general musing, DIY projects and recipes. Thank you so much for stopping by! Enjoy!
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