Friday, April 25, 2008

it's been a long time...

... since i posted on my dear blog! sorry about that, the internet! the reason for my absence can mostly be attributed to me freaking out about school.

you might remember a post way back in february where i said something like, "okay, i'm off to take my film class' midterm! wish me luck!". well, i never took it. it's a self-paced distance-learning class, so of course i didn't get in trouble or anything, except that the course expires in 1 1/2 weeks, and i hadn't even made it half-way through! so guess what i've been doing for the last few days? reading my film book and watching my films like crazy! at least it's a fun class :). also, i have these two 10-page papers due for two history classes. i've got 1 1/2 weeks to submit those, as well. plus i have a paper due in my literature class on tuesday, followed by the final the next tuesday. but then i will be done for the semester, and i will breathe a huge sigh of relief! i have a knack for putting things off till the last minute and somehow pulling it off and making all a's, so hopefully that trend will continue :p.

in the short breaks i allowed myself, i created some ginkgo pieces that have a simple kind of beauty. here's one:



it's not washi paper, but it is japanese paper, so no, i didn't cheat :p.

this week i was surprised with two custom orders and a normal order! that was thrilling :D. one of the custom orders was a batch of 40 washi fortune cookies, so that was exciting! my little shop is getting a lot of traffic lately, and i couldn't be happier. i ran an ad on projectwonderful for about a week and gained a customer from it, and over 500 clicks to my shop from the ad. so if you're thinking about that sort of thing for your shop, i say go for it! it worked for me, anyway :).

i made it past 200 hearts at last! i'm not sure how some of you ladies do it (namely tizz: girl, you've got a ton more hearts than me, and we started selling at the same time! congrats to you!), but my hearts have come in slowly since 3 months ago, when i opened my shop. and speaking of hearts, my washi fortune cookies have over 600 views and 17 hearts!

also, i decided to buy a full arsenal of gold-plated findings to keep on hand just in case a customer can't wear silver (or if they prefer gold).

on a personal note, it's been one year since i landed myself in the emergency room, unknowing that i had stage iv endometriosis. it's been a really rough year, i have to say, but a lot of really great things happened, too. two surgeries and one year later, i have finished my shot treatment. the hot flashes stopped, and i feel a lot better since the lupron is leaving my system, and hopefully now i can get on with my life! up until now, it has been impossible to lose weight (i look like i'm average weight, but i'm somehow at 170 pounds since endo and all the treatments i have been on made me gain weight) since i wasn't allowed to for about 6 months (for risk of bursting the cysts, and also recovering from the surgeries, which were a few months apart). i've been exercising vigourously throughout the day, almost every day, so we'll see. i really want to look fabulous in my wedding dress in october!

oh, and my soon-to-be mother-in-law, whom i haven't spoken to in 3 months, wants to eat dinner with brandon, the step-dad, and me on monday. that should be interesting...

well, that's what's up! it's likely that i won't be able to blog much in the next 1 1/2 weeks, but i'll make an effort ;p.

and by the way, ladies who won prizes in my recent contest: don't forget to redeem your gift certificates! there's no expiration on them, i just don't want you to forget your free goodies :)

♥,
melissa

9 comments:

Tizzalicious said...

Nice to see you again!

I did that self face studying too, it didn't work out at ALL! :P

Congrats with your 200 hearts! :) I don't know where mine are coming from either, especially this month I got so many new ones! And hardly any sales!

maoiliosa said...

haha, i guess you need some structure in your schooling ;p. sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't.

well you deserve every heart you've got! your shop is soooo cute :).

LeaKarts said...

It's so nice to get to know more about you--that bit about your midterm gave me scary college flashbacks, though :) Good luck with your shop and congrats! It sounds like you are doing great!

It sounds like you are going through a lot in your personal life, too. I am glad to hear that you are recovering from the endometriosis, I have heard how terribly painful that can be.

Take care Melissa!

maoiliosa said...

awww, thank you lea! you're the best :)

KieutiePie said...

Yay you're alive! I haven't had much luck with Project Wonderful, but oh well! =} grats on the shop growing though. That's so awesome!!! =}

maoiliosa said...

thanks, kieu! :D

whitkay said...

First: I got my stuff today, and I *LOVE* it!! It's even prettier than the pics, and I can't wait to wear it. :oD

Next: Hope the dinner went well! Mother-in-laws are scary--even more so before the wedding! But it really does get better with a little time. :o)

Last (but certainly not least!): I'm glad your health is improving! I haven't had any firsthand experience with any of that, but it certainly sounds dreadful, and I hate that you've had to go through that.

Oh, and congrats on the hearts... Don't know what it means, really, but you seem happy about it, so YAY! :o)

maoiliosa said...

haha, thanks whitney, and i'm glad you love your stuff! :D

rundown on hearts: when someone visits your etsy shop, they can 'heart' your ship (favourite it, basically) by clicking on the 'add seller to favourites' link on the right. then if you go to 'see who hearts this shop' link, you'll see everyone who's favourited it. it's nothing super important or anything, but it is fun, and rewarding to see that people actually like your stuff :). also, it could mean potential future sales, since when you go to your account's page and click on 'favourites', you see everything you've hearted, making it easier to keep track of what you want to buy!

as for the mother-in-law, more on that in my next blog :p.

maoiliosa said...

"they can 'heart' your ship" really, melissa? your SHIP? :p

obviously i meant 'shop' :ppp