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Long time, no Gossip!
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It's been a while, hasn't it? Back in April, I was so excited and hopeful to share with you all the macabre things I was creating and wanted to keep you updated on what was happening in my life.
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Now, it is three months and one week later and it's been...crickets. What happened? It feels like it's been a blur since April. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to June and now August 1st is a little over a week away. My life has been chaotic and I haven't given myself the time to dedicate to my creative endeavors.
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For starters, I've been easing my way back into the workforce. Since February, I've been working on a dinosaur summer curriculum for my parent's school, creating materials, typing out lesson plans and even setting up a museum space for children to visit. We're halfway through the third week of our 8-week program and as much fun as it has been getting to work with all the kids, I'm ready for it to be over. It's a LOT of work to plan an 8-week curriculum. Even more to create everything accompanying the lessons for seventeen classrooms of five different age groups!
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Plus, that whole family business is super complicated right now. COVID and the push for public TK programs has really messed up small private child care centers and its really not looking so hot for my family's business right now. It's a whole bunch of stuff that I'll either have very very negative news come my next newsletter or positive news. It's a whole pasta full of messy noodles.
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On a brighter note, did you hear it's only 99 days until Halloween? I was seeing all my spooky pals sharing all sorts of fun things yesterday to celebrate 100 days until our favorite holiday. It's been just the serotonin boost I didn't know I needed. It's helping with those MSS blues. Well, sort of. It's complicated. It's been rather tough checking in on social media. It feels like everyone is up to something, whether it's conquering major life goals or doing something really fun...like hanging out with each other. My life has not felt so adventurous and with the family biz stuff, I don't feel like I've had a moment to appreciate anything.
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On top of that, I'm definitely feeling that regret of missing out. Midsummer Scream is this weekend and I won't get to be there. I had to get life in order on my end. Still, I can't help feeling a pinch of morose. So I'm letting those feelings sit however they want for now.
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I'm sorry this particular letter was a little more on the downer side, but if you keep reading, you'll find some more positive highlights from the last three months! I have my fingers crossed that things will be looking more delightfully macabre in the next month, so until then...
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Mermay Madness
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Beach Bums in Santa Cruz
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May weekends were spend crashing at my mother-in-laws for some Santa Cruz beach fun. After some crazy days at work, we had promised Lil' Boo a beach day. However, luck would have it that the day we chose to head to the beach, there was a HUGE squall which we were definitely not dressed for.
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Lots of people just assume the beach is nice and warm, but especially here in Northern California, Santa Cruz tends to be on the colder side. We had to cancel the beach, but took the kids through the indoor mini-golf course instead. Not a beach day, but just as fun and a whole lot less sand.
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Our second weekend in Santa Cruz was during Mother's Day weekend. Little Monster did a marathon with my mother-in-law while we cheered from the sidelines.
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Mockingbird Lane's Monster Midway Market
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Mockingbird Lane was how we wrapped up three crazy weekends in a row on the Santa Cruz boardwalk!
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The Monster Midway Market was a lot of fun! I got to check in with quite a few of the vendors I like to check out during Midsummer Scream AND I discovered some new creatives whom are more local to our area. It was a great change of pace and a beautiful venue at the Coconut Grove on the Boardwalk. Plus Lil' Boo finally got his beach day once I finished shopping.
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I cannot wait to check out their market in Alameda this October (if I still have a job by then...🤞)!
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Life Updates for May, June and July
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The end of May also brought about the end of Little Monster's final days as a Kindergartener. She's going to be a First Grader starting mid-August. Can you believe it?
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Meet Juju - Our Kenyan Sand Boa
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At the end of June. we checked out the Reptile Realms expo in San Jose. It's one of those events that we always say we'll try to catch, but we either just missed it or already had something going on the weekends it happens. This time, we lucked out...and came home with an unexpected new pet!
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So, we did go to the expo expecting to come home with some sort of reptile to act as a classroom pet for the dinosaur museum. However, before even walking through the doors (and throughout the expo), I reminded both of my children several times that we were NOT going to come home with a snake...
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...And then there was Juju. About halfway through the expo, Little Monster was getting very confident with asking breeders if she could hold different reptiles. This particular vendor joked that she could hold one only if we were going to bring it home. Which is where I spoke up and said, we're not looking for a snake. I expressed my concerns over feeding life prey (rodents are so different from crickets) and that we didn't really have room for a large snake. He laughed and said that the other reptiles I've cared for were already way more work and a snake would be nothing in comparison. He took out this orange and black boa saying how he'll only get so big and then plopped him right into Little Monster's hands.
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She was beside herself. This cutie must have picked up on her energy because he started to really slither and bolt. I slid my hand under hers to give the little guy somewhere to go before he ended up on the floor. He decided to wrap himself around my wrist like the most emotive Halloween bracelet ever and refused to move for a few minutes. His bright slitted eyes stared up at me from his grip. I looked at Erick and we came home with a pet snake.
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I have handled all kinds of snakes and reptiles before so I really did not think I would fall in love with this guy as much as I have. I've been like a new mom being so worried that I'm caring for him properly. I'm hoping once I find some spare time, I can do a full blog write-up about my experience thus far as an unexpecting snake owner, but until then, I'd love to hear what you think of our new friend!
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