⛥January Q&A⛥ (Patreon)

Happy Imbolc! How are you doing this fresh new season? I see a blue sky in my tiny window for a change and with my cold almost died down, I'd like to go for a walk and try to find some flowers for my altar. I already put out homemade granola bars as an offering and decorated it with new shiny crystals but I still feel like it needs a couple of snow drops or something. But first we'll answer your questions over coffee so I can conveniently link you to the February Q&A post for follow-up questions. This month's inquiries are:

Do you still have your Etsy shop? A while ago I tried to find it on there buy it wouldn't show up in the search results. No, it's down right now and I don't think I'll reopen it again soon. (Not deleted yet because I had some custom order requests I still want to try to work out with people). I do have leftover stock that I'll find a way to bring to people eventually but it doesn't warrant having a little business that needs tending when I have so much on my plate already. Maybe in the future when I can get some help with the especially difficult things, which are, for me, communicating with people (even over chat I find it quite stressful unless I'm already close with the person). But if you're asking for a refill on protection oil just DM me cause I can make that happen without Etsy. Or if you're interested in stuff I don't have to make from scratch for that matter. A little while ago I put out a post on Instagram to sell off my photo sets and I might do that again occasionally so it might be worth following my official account to see what's available.

What are some of the things you (two) are looking forward to in 2020? What are the things you don't? Jack: Well, we already got married. Score! That was a pretty big one. Let's see... Seeing Ally more often - that's definitely a big one. Getting to file for her "we're married" visa! Seeing how she likes all her new equipment, like the 3Dio and stuff - that's kind of exciting. Hopefully all the new stuff will make her job easier, like, I'm confident Duke (new work laptop) will render faster. Hopefully seeing Trump not get elected again! Yeah!
Ally: Making videos that I won't want to delete within a year. Even though I haven't been pumping out as many videos, the great news is that I don't particularly hate any of the ones I made in the last 4 months. So I want to keep up that trend. More visits from my beautiful husband - It's really important to me to have him physically here. Anyone who has been in a long distance relationship knows how hard it is to just function in life when you haven't seen the person you love in a while. Until I finally have my visa that the USCIS has been stalling indefinitely I'm gonna require some vacation periods like this to hold me over. It's so refreshing to be physically close to someone I know has my back. I never realized how much I was missing that safety in daily life. Seeing Trump not get elected again! That oompa loompa has made it near impossible to get in the country. It'd make my entire year to see him "retire". And lastly, staying true to my goal for this year, living a fulfilling life. I just want to spend my time doing worthwhile things everywhere I go. 

How are you? Jack: I'm on my honeymoon... What do you think?
Ally: I have an itchy throat and stuffy nose which is annoying. But other than that same. 

To Jack: How have you kept your long distance relationship going for as long as you have? Spend time together. Make time to still do stuff together, like, watch a show or movie together, use one of the many different video chat options, maybe have a little dinner date or something together. Just keep in contact and still be there for each other.
Ally: Just elaborating on Jack's answer - we're in a fortunate situation where our respective jobs allow us to pretty much always be in contact. We're constantly on steam messenger and Instagram talking to each other and just keeping this line of communication open is the single biggest thing that makes the distance bearable. It makes it feel like we're in each other's lives so I highly recommend that. Other than chatting as much as possible, we have designated date nights every week (Wednesday and Friday) where we make time for each other to watch a show or movie together, play games, be sassy and have fun. Adult-would-you-rather is never a bad idea either. When life gets really busy sometimes these don't work out as my window for recording each night is unpredictable. So it's mostly my crazy job getting in the way of these lately but I try to make it up to him when I finish a video. Date nights are about making each other feel wanted and showing that the relationship is a priority. Jack really enjoys playing games and if I could play the same games he does, that could be a fun activity together. But, alas, I have anxiety - playing games where I can't control everything stresses me out. So instead we just play our respective games but chat about shit that happens in our games while doing so. It's as easy as that to get a play date going. When we're working we have coffee together and that would be a work date. We talk about work, he shows me funny memes he finds at work and I bitch about my software. We exchange pictures every so often, video chat on Instagram where he shows me his spazzy cat and I take great pleasure in bamboozling her by meowing at her through the phone and having her watch for where that damn other cat is. We're married now but even before that it was clear that we are a unit and we arranged our lives accordingly. I adapted to his sleep schedule rather quickly as it happened to be convenient for making videos aswell. But I realize that's probably not possible for every couple. Regardless, it helps to do as many of these things as possible. As a rule of thumb - everything is a date when you're in a long distance relationship. Finding ways to do everyday things together will be your saving grace. 

This concludes today's Q&A - I hope you found this informative and if you have more questions as a result of these answers, feel free to drop them in this new post. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and rest of the month :) Cheers