Think my worked stopped that Sunday? Think again!

I was asked earlier that week from a director friend of mine to do a quick hair and makeup job for a book trailer that afternoon.

So after sleeping in as much as I could at my parents house, Sofie and I got up and headed out again. With all the running around I’d been doing lately with her, I was surprised by how good of a sport she was!
I stopped by the apartment on Capitol Hill to meet up with Jason and drop off Sofie with him for the day while I went to work. I popped by my friends house to do hair and makeup for about an hour, then spent a bit of time doing some prep work on myself since I had some head shots to take that afternoon.

Yes, I said head shots. I decided to try and dabble back into acting again, so got hooked up with a local talent agency that is hiring me on as a stylist as well as adding me to their acting roster! So after spending some time at the agency, I got my photos and then headed home just in time for dinner with Jason and Sofie.

It was another long day, but I was glad that this time I was able to come home and have the whole family together, at home, as it should be.

12.9.12

Progress! Success! (Still about a week and a half to go…)

Saturday came around and it was music video time for a local band Sleepy Pilot. This time, I was only doing hair styling, but I was looking forward to spending the day on a cool set (Antique Mall!) and also catch up with my old friend Kay, who was also the model for the music video.

Call time was not until noon, but I got up early to finish up the rest of my prep work for the shoot. After breakfast I got packed and ready to head out for the day, before I left I remembered to snap a picture of Sofie since I wouldn’t be getting back until pretty late that evening.

I left Poulsbo and made my way up to Tacoma to do some work and make a great video! It was a long day, but the crew was great, the band was great, and I also had a great time exploring the Antique Mall we were shooting in. I was pretty proud of the hairstyle I was able to create also, it will all be shared eventually on my makeup blog!

After a long day of work, I finally got home shortly after midnight. I was so beat, and after a quick hot shower, I headed off to dream land and snuggled in bed with Sofie.

Sweet little Sofie, just what I needed after a long day!

12.8.12

Friday the 7th was another early morning for Sofie and I.
Since my friend Camille’s engagement shoot was early in the morning Sofie and I woke up at the crack of dawn (in this case around 6) to get ready and head over to my her house to help her get ready.

My friend also had a son, just a couple years older, so Sofie and him played together while the adults got to do makeup and catch up!
I was really excited to be able to do makeup for Camille, I hadn’t seen her in ages and I was really glad I got to see her. Sofie also got to make a new friend too, which is always great!

After our morning appointment Sofie and I did a little shopping at the craft store to pick up a few more items for my music video job that weekend. Then, we headed home to hang out and I spent my afternoon sewing and doing more prep work for the next day.

–

Love her face in this one! Shy and surprised!

Surprise!

Thursday, I was still busy with prep and errands for my upcoming jobs that weekend. In the morning, Sofie came along with me to my makeup artist friend, Jennifer’s, house to pick up a few wigs for a music video I had coming up Saturday. After stopping by and visiting that morning, I ran up to Bothell for a meeting with a couple more artist friends of mine to discuss some ideas we had for a future new beauty studio. We spent a couple hours talking and sharing thoughts and ideas, I was pretty excited with our plans coming out of it.
Then, after the meeting Sofie and I dashed home to meet with another old friend, who was going to be a model for the music video I had coming up this weekend. After chatting for a little while about hairstyles, my friend left our house. But the day wasn’t over yet!

I had a meeting with another old friend of mine the next day in Silverdale (about 15 minutes from my parents house) to do her makeup for her engagement shoot, so since it was going to be such an early morning meeting, Sofie and I drove over to my parents house that evening to spend the night.

Needless to say, it was a very long day, and we were both very pooped by the end of it!

Busy Baby.

]]> http://onmaimind.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/sofia-365-day-270/ Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:18:54 +0000 michellemai http://onmaimind.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/sofia-365-day-270/ Day 270: 12.5.12

Wednesday I spent another day at home with Sofie.

I had some jobs coming up the end of the week so I spent some time prepping for them.

I did as much catch up work as I could while I had the chance as well since I knew I wouldn’t have time for them once I got to working! Didn’t seem to help me much now, though, haha. Two more weeks of pictures to go!

12.5.12

Tuesday, after a morning at my parent’s, I left in the afternoon with Sofie to head back home to Seattle.

Looks like after such a long day, I almost nearly forgot to take her photo, but got her in the nick of time before bed!

Jammies Baby.

Ack! Christmas will be soon upon us and I still have so much to catch up on! It’s now or never, so let’s blast through these babies eh?

—

Monday I was back at my mom’s again for the day visiting since Sofia had an appointment.

It’s been so cold, Sofie and I have usually just stayed cooped up in the house.

I spent most of the day catching up on my blog posts (something I feel like I’m constantly doing), but it was another productive day for the most part.

I feel like I’m always trying to get as much work done as possible while I can, and with a kid it’s sometimes hard to keep on task or get anything done at times, but that’s what comes with the job and I accept the challenge.
Sofie is a such a sweet heart though, even when I feel like I have a million tasks at hand, it’s pretty hard to ignore her.

Wild Child.

First Sunday of December… I spent the day at home again with Sofie.
I just did some more work organizing around the apartment, it just seems like the work never ends.

You get one thing done, then it’s something else…
Well, at least Sofie’s room is starting to look less like a storage space and more like a “room” now.

It’s all a work in progress…

Now that Sofie’s getting a little older, it’s gotten easier to get more work done since she can play by herself, but sometimes I can’t help but take little naps with her…

Surprise!

Whoo! Well at least we’re in the right month again now.

I still have a ways to go to catch up, but I’m making progress… (Perhaps one of my New Year’s Resolutions will be to keep more on top of my posts…)

Saturday, December 1st… I honestly couldn’t believe how quickly November had just flown by. With just a blink of an eye, weeks go by, is this what getting older feels like?

I took advantage of my day off and spent as much time sleeping in as I could.
I spent the majority of the day just hanging out with the fam and enjoying my time at home. I tried to do a little oranizing but seeing as I can’t remember doing much, I probably didn’t do a whole lot…

Here’s Sofie baby though, always with the squinty eyes!

December Baby.

Friday was my last day on my commercial job. We mostly needed to get a few extra shots outdoors to feature a local company at work, so work for me was pretty light.
It was our earliest call time, so I snuck out before Sofie woke up.

After grabbing a quick coffee pick-me up, I headed out to meet the rest of the crew to wrap up our week of shooting.
We ended up finishing right around lunch time, so went out to eat to celebrate the end of the week. I definitely had a great time working with the crew, and the parting gift (an ipod shuffle!) from the producer was also pretty awesome.

This definitely gets me thinking that I’m going to need to focus on getting more work like that in the future; it was easy, stress free, and good money, all things that I like!

I headed home a little later in the afternoon and spent a nice relaxing evening with the family. I was definitely looking forward to having some good time off that coming weekend.

Frowny Face.

Thursday, day 4 on set for my commercial shoot.
I headed out again that morning to the Lake Tapps location after spending a little bit of time with Sofie and Jason in the morning.

Jason stayed home watching Sofie that day, and ended up going to his mom’s house for a bit.

I was back at work doing makeup again, probably my most busy and longest day of the week, but it was still relatively stress free.

On my way back to Seattle I made a detour to Jason’s mom’s to meet up with Sofie and Jason before we headed home for the night.
Sofie was so tired from the day she fell alseep on the way home.

I decided to skip bath time and just let her rest, but before I retired her to her crib, I snapped a picture of her sleepy little head.

Sleepy Sofie.

]]> http://onmaimind.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/sofia-365-day-262/ Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:42:35 +0000 michellemai http://onmaimind.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/sofia-365-day-262/ Day 262: 11.28.12

Wednesday, I woke up feeling as if a cloud had lifted from over me. I was refreshed and felt good about life again.

Now that Jason and I had recommitted, I was more determined than ever to make our family work.
I drove out that morning to day 3 of my commercial job and left Jason to meet my mom at the ferry to pick up our daughter.

I spent another day doing makeup and styling, this time, a bit out in the middle of nowhere by beautiful Lake Tapps. Luckily we were inside again for interviews, so I got to stay out of the cold and wet weather.
After another long work day, I couldn’t wait to get home and see Sofie and Jason to spend time together as a family unit. Spending time apart for nearly a whole week was draining on everybody andI think we all were just happy to be with each other.

Sofia seemed to be pretty happy both her parents were with her as well.

Paper Lover.

Tuesday, day 2 on set for my commercial shoot.

The morning was much less hectic since I didn’t have to go through Seattle to get my kit.
I was able to “sleep in” a tad, before heading out again for work.

It was another good productive day, doing makeup on “real people” is far less stressful than you’d think…
We even ended up finishing a bit early, and also finally heard back from Jason, so I headed up to Seattle to talk with him and disperse all of the clouds still hanging over my head.

Jason acknowledge the fact that I had reached out to him so sincerely, and agreed to give our relationship one last shot. I knew it was not going to be an easy road, but I was glad that I had another chance to make things right.
We ended up talking late into the evening and grabbed some dinner at a Japanese restauarant close to our house; although my parents weren’t too happy with my decision to stay in Seattle, Sofie stayed with them for the night, and we made arrangements to pick her up in the morning.

It had been such a rollercoaster of a week and I was just glad to be off the ride; everything felt right again and our family was back together.
That’s all that mattered to me.

11.27.12

Okay, now I’m just getting lazy.

It’s time to get serious and get these posts done!

That Monday after Thanksgiving was my first day on the job for the commercial I got called in to do the night before.
The day started out quite eventful.

After waking at about 5 in the morning to be able to catch a ferry in time to get to Seattle and pick up my makeup kit in the studio, I rushed out with breakfast in hand, (forgetting my coffee in the garage), and went to the ferry. Underestimating the amount of commuters that would be on the ferry at 7 in the morning, I missed my first ferry and kicked myself thinking I would be late for my first day on the job.

Luckily, the producer e-mailed me just in time, saying that they pushed my call back another half hour, and I was saved!
I caught the next ferry and rushed over to my studio to pick up my makeup kit. Then, the next roadblock came. My access code to the front door was not working! I tried frustratedly for about 5 minutes to put my code in to no avail, eventually some other people going into work that morning rescued me and let me in.

After running upstairs and grabbing my kit I threw my things in the truck and headed on the road. Finally, smooth sailing! I hit a bit of traffic, but got to set that morning with moments to spare.

The rest of the day was relatively easy and fun, but boy, what an eventful morning I had… By the end of it all, I was just glad to be driving home to see my Sofie baby!

—

Thanks to my mom for grabbing a picture of her that day. Looks like she was enjoying her magazines as usual.

Magazine Baby.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving was a much quieter day at my parents house. I spent the day running some errands and hanging out at my parent house with Sofia.
I had a lot on my mind, so it was nice to have some time to myself and my thoughts.

That evening I got a call in for a last minute job happening that week, so I jumped on the opportunity to make some money. My mom was able to watch Sofie, and my commute wasn’t even too bad, so I was pretty set.

I had an early call time the next morning so I headed to bed early with Sofie and caught up on my z’s.

11.25.12

Saturday after black-Friday, was another day spent at my parents house.
After reaching out to my bestest friend, Katie, about my current situation, she came up to visit me for the day so we could vent and talk.

We’re not necessarily best friends in the traditional sense of the word, we don’t talk every day, we hardly ever see each other, but we both love each other dearly and would do anything for each other. I’ve known her since I was 10 years old,( now more than half my life!), and we have been best friends ever since, and probably will be for a long, long time. We grew up together, through all our adolescent trials and tribulations and now into adulthood. We have both become very different people, but still remain close, whenever we see each other it’s like we never were apart.

With all the emotions I had been feeling for the past day and a half, it was nice to know she was there for me, and to be able to talk to her.

So, Katie and I made our way out to some old stomping grounds, she did some shopping, I did some talking, and we both ate some food. We spoke a lot about my future and what would become of it.  My parents were already making arrangements for me to stay with them, and I felt like I was being pulled into a new direction for my life. I wasn’t ready to let go, but I knew that at some point I would have to make plans for a potential life as a single mom.

Later that evening, Katie and I went out to a reunion party of sorts. One of our old friends from high school had time off from his deployment and was visiting from over seas; he was throwing a little get-together and I felt it might be just what I needed to get my mind off of all those depressing thoughts and see some familiar old faces.
I will admit, it felt kind of strange being back in my old town, with old friends; I felt like I was back in high school again, only everybody had grown up a bit. At the same time, it was like nothing ever changed.

We spent a couple hours catching up and talking, but knowing I had a little girl waiting at home for me, I left early with Katie and headed back to my parents house. I will say, with all the good company, paired with some drinks, I did sleep much better that night.

—

Paparazzi Shot.

I woke up that Black Friday morning with more of a black heart (a little dramatic, I know).

After a long, not very restful night, mostly spent thinking about my life and future, I woke up feeling resolved that I would do what I could to right the situation and get back together with Jason. I knew it’s what we both wanted as parents, to raise Sofia together, but I also knew that sometimes even wanting something just isn’t enough.

Despite those thoughts, I felt motivated to try harder at my relationship, if it could be repaired.

I reached out to Jason that evening after a day of planning and thinking; I proposed two options, getting back together and working on our relationship, or staying separated and working out an agreement for Sofie’s care.
All I could think about was this little girl, and how much she just wants her parents to be happy and together, and I wanted so badly for that to work.

So I sent my message, and I waited.

—

Sofie: post-bath, cookie in hand.

Cookie.

And here we are…

Thanksgiving Thursday was a bit of a turning point for me.

Now, I’m not really one to get serious and talk candidly about my personal affairs beyond the typical surface type stuff, but sometimes life throws a curve ball at you and you need to own up and face reality.
As depressing as that may sound, sometimes it’s really what you need.

It’s true that all relationships have their ups and downs, and sometimes as hard as you want things to be magical and happy all the time, life just doesn’t work that way.

Things have never been perfect in my relationship, things don’t always work out the way I plan, mistakes are made, and bad things are said.

This past Thanksgiving became somewhat of a culmination of all the trials and tribulations my relationship with my boyfriend had endured, and it did not end well…

As emotional and distraught as I was from the fighting, and as much as I just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry, I had to keep it together for Sofie. And as much as I didn’t want to leave, I knew it would be the best thing to do given the current situation.

I packed my bags full of clothes, and gathered all of my necessities to survive away from home. I didn’t know when I would be back, if ever, and that scared me.
Then there was poor Sofie, she had no idea what was even happening.
What was supposed to be a happy day full of seeing family became a day where hers fell apart.

I made my way to my parents house, feeling completely defeated. I don’t think I ever felt so depressed, my relationship was over, as far as I could see, and at that point I had no courage to face up to reality.

It was a pretty subdued Thanksgiving at my parents, to say the least, but we did our best to put aside the negative aspects of the day and enjoy our evening.
Needless to say, both Sofia and I were pretty exhausted.

I turned in early, and thus commenced a few very long days of soul-searching…

—-

My Thanksgiving Baby.

Thanksgiving Baby.

I made some headway yesterday, so that’s great! Now it’s time to do some more work before I decide that I need sleep.

That Wednesday was one of the few days I didn’t have some kind of work gig going on, but we had a bunch of work to do around the building so I spent the day at home in my scrubs tinkering around. I finally got Sofie to nap later in the afternoon so I took that opportunity to give the building a good clean, swept and mopped all the floors and vacuumed the landings. It’s actually pretty hard work keeping a building nice and clean!

I was definitely glad I didn’t decide to shower that morning cause it would have reversed any work I had done.

That night Jason went out to his sister’s birthday party, I was scrubby and didn’t have enough time to get ready so I stayed home with Sofie. Wish I could have made it to the party, but sometimes you just need a quiet night in…

11.21.12

Alrighty! I think this will be my last post of the night, but I feel like I made a pretty good dent in the “catch-up” pile.

Tuesday, Sofie was dropped off at her grandma’s house before I drove up North to have a quick meeting with another artist that I will be collaborating with soon on my next “Beauty” venture. I spent a few hours chatting with her and tossing around ideas, before heading back down again to get Sofie.

The new project is still a while away from being launched, but I’m very excited about it, to say the least!

In the mean time, I really need to get organized… now if I didn’t need to sleep…

–

Here’s Sofie, doing her famous “surprised!” face.

Surprise Face!

Moving on along…

Although I planned for another busy day running errands with Sofie, Monday turned out to be a fairly quiet day at home.

It was raining pretty hard that day, so it’s not like I really wanted to go anywhere anyways…

I think I needed a bit of a break anyways, after being out of the house almost every day the last week it was nice to have some time at home with Sofie, just the two of us.

Crazy Hair Baby.

Sunday, I was back on set doing makeup for my friend Autumn’s web series. We were back at my studio again, and Sofie came with me this time! I had spent so much time away from her that week that I just needed some Sofie time…
Sofie had a great time hanging around my studio and watching the goings’ on around set, and everybody loved her, of course.

After a long day hanging out on set, and doing our best to stay out of the cold, we went home to daddy.

Since Sofie was so busy being cute around set, she didn’t nap, so she was pretty tired by the time we got home (so was I). It wasn’t too long before we all were asleep.

Set Baby.

That Saturday, I had a wedding to do, so after having a nice family breakfast with Sofie, I headed over to Jason’s mom’s to drop Sofie off for the afternoon.
My wedding was up north, and after realizing I had left my airbrush kit at my studio, I doubled back to Seattle before finally jetting off to my wedding.

I had a super nice, and chill bride along with her whole bridal party, so it just made my life all the easier.

After getting everybody finished and sending them on their way, I packed up and headed back to pick up Sofie.
Traffic was pretty bad on my way back home seeing that it was rainy, dark and slick. I passed two accidents on my way to get Sofie!

After picking up the girl, I headed back home for a late night family dinner, and crashed after a long busy day.

–

Here’s Sofie’s picture that I took before heading out for the day; she’s sporting a new dress I got for her! I think it’s adorable.

Cheetah Baby.

Friday, the 16th was a quiet morning at home. I did some catching up on work and prepping for my wedding the next day.

I decided to see about taking a stab at acting and modeling again, so after doing some searching, I found a local agency I was interested in possibly being a part of.

That evening, I went out to an orientation for that agency to see what it was all about. Jason was nice enough to watch Sofie again while I went out for a few hours.
The orientation definitely left me interested, but seeing as I’m dead broke, I might wait awhile since I’ll have to invest some money in getting good headshots and what not…

Well, we’ll see…

In any case, this picture of Sofie is pretty epic, I think. She looks like a little rock star.

Rock and Roll Baby.

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