Weight loss success and many updates.

Ugh, seriously. What was I thinking with that haircut back then?

My weight loss adventure: 32 pounds down, 20 to go. I'm well over halfway through my journey! This time last year, I'd lost my first 10 and I just could not see a difference. I'm definitely seeing it today. I feel like the person in the photo to the right isn't even the same as the one on the left! On top of that, my best friend and I went bra shopping just shortly after she took that photo.  I'm still a 38 in the strap, but I could definitely see me going down to the 36 before it's over.  I tried on a 36 in the store and it was just a tiny, tiny bit too tight.  A bigger bonus?  It was a D.  I'm going to be a 36D.  To all the people who teased me about being flat chested in high school: Suck on THAT!

Although I was actually in training bras throughout high school.  Shhhh.  I was a late bloomer. Anyway...

Speaking of my best friend, this is a group photo of myself, my husband Aaron, her boyfriend Eric and my best friend Charli (ironically also the set for one of my "before" pictures).  Charli and I met in middle school and she was quite literally my saving grace.  I was struggling with bullies and she taught me how to deal with them.  I attribute my strong will and stubborn attitude to her.  After high school, she followed her dreams of becoming an animator and went to school up near Chicago.  Once she graduated with her BFA she stayed there.  For years, she'd talked about moving back to KC for a cheaper cost of living but it just never seemed to work out.  This year, she put an expiration date on Chicago.  We moved her and her boyfriend down over the weekend of June 1st.

Both Charli and I have had multiple roommates in the past and we've both had somewhat negative experiences. Both of us are cautiously entering the world of roommatedom.  Aaron and I have a roommate agreement that we all signed.  We also have a chore chart, which is actually working out amazingly well.   It's nice to have another person in the house who can cook, taking the pressure off of Aaron from time to time.  I can't cook for beans and my diet almost exclusively requires me to do so.  Not only that, but Charli's diet is very similar to mine.  It makes things much easier.

Friday was a particularly good day.  We had a fantastic morning, Charli and I went shopping for the better part of the evening, then we all went on a double date to Granite City for the night.  If that's foreshadowing how living together will work out, bring it on!

Other than moving Charli in and losing weight, things have been slow.  Every year, I suffer burnout for about a month and a half and a "career crisis" for about a month, though usually not at the same time.  This year, they both hit and it was a double whammy I'm still trying to get over.  Nothing like feeling overworked and thinking your time as a freelancing artist has expired.  It was a tough blow to my already usually low ego to realize I have very few "useful" skills outside of drawing.  I'm over the career crisis now, but should I ever decide to change careers in the future, I will definitely have to go back to school.  Since I already have a BA, I won't be able to get the financial aid I received previously.  That means loans.  And Aaron's student loans already kill us enough as it is.  Might just be better to be a housewife at that point, lol.

And no, despite my mother-in-law's speculation, I am not currently a housewife.  I do work, and very hard might I add.

... Just not apparently when I'm suffering a burnout.

That being said, I have a few cushions I've been using the past month and a half to get by.  The first is probably the cause of my burnout in the first place - I'm well over my target income for 2013 at this point.  I'd have to fully take off another month to be even on target.  That's why I don't feel nearly as pressured to hop back on if I don't feel up to it.  The second cushion has been caricature gigs.  I market myself as a character designer and caricaturist but, this year, I've been heavily focusing character design.  When I noticed signs of burnout, I started to take more caricature gigs.  Instead of working at my own pace from home over the week, I spend time over the weekend at parties drawing people.  It's a nice change and keeps us from going too broke over the burnout months.  Plus, I'm a pretty rocking party artist if I do say so myself.  Two-and-a-half minutes gets you one of my bad boys.

Don't make a face! I will draw it in there.

Today was an odd day - I had my first hypocoma in months.  Slept all the way until 5 pm, went back to bed around 8 and slept until 1 am.  Even for the three hours I was awake, I was in a fog.  I spent a lot of time slumped in my chair in front of my computer staring off into a distance.  When I did interact, I was unintentionally snippy.  We visited my in-laws to pick up a tent for an upcoming holiday, Midsummer.  While there, I bent over to pick up a box and the tent bag fell on me.  Hurt like the dickens.  Instead of asking what happened or make sure that Aaron was okay, I snapped at him with a "THANKS."  I'm never at my best when my thyroid is being a prick.

Even though I've slept so much today, I think I'm going to go back to bed.  I'd like to get some rest and wake up at a semi-decent time to get things done.

Goodnight folks!