Gorgeous!

I saw these gorgeous hair pins on Etsy and thought omg I have to figure out how to make these!!! I saw them and was just floored about how awesome they were. I kept trying to figure out how the edges were sewn... or were they? Also what is the center made of? Those tiny beads or a single bead? So many questions! I honestly was tempted to purchase it just to figure it out (yes, I was THAT curious).


Well as it turns out... no need! Yay for the internet and google searches because I found a website containing step by step directions to a flower that is like what I want to make. It actually is EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL than the green ones at the top (even though I still like that style for a more 'simple' look!)


She shows EXACTLY how to make these!!! (who knew the 'secret' is fire!!!) So simple but beautiful!!! I was thinking these could be used on barettes, to make pins, maybe a bracelet 'corsauge' etc!

So I did another Etsy search and found all of these beautiful designs for inspiration. I cannot wait to get started on these... and this is what everyone will be getting for x-mas lol!
**I got these images from a variety of sellers. It is interesting how everyone has their own style. I like some elements of some and some of others so I cannot wait to start making mine!!!!!

This is awesome and wonderful!!!

I am not at all a fan of forwards or silly youtube videos showcasing people trying to get their 15 minutes (or more like seconds) in the spotlight. I did, however, see this video today and OMG it is wonderful! At first I thought it was a little silly, but as it goes on you appreciate this couple's great group of friends/family and it will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye. You all know I am not sentimental but this had me shedding a few tears because of how wonderful this is. Watch the whole thing to the end. The groom is a riot and the very last walk when the bride and groom walk down together is priceless!
Click Here for the link to the youtube video.

Etsy!

So for everybody that is my friend on facebook (which I would assume is everybody who reads this blog). I posted last night that I was in a crafty mood. Even though I am very creative, I am not especially crafty. I for whatever reason just don't have anything to do crafts with. I go into Michael's and get scared of all the silk flowers and wooden picture frames and leave. So meanwhile my mom said there is an event at a big nursing home in charlotte where you can 'buy' a table and sell whatever for an afternoon. It's only like $20 bucks and they said you can use it as a yardsale or sell whatever. That got me thinking yet again that I really wish I had something I could make. I love getting homemade presents (I mean if they don't suck lol) I have a lot of homemade art and stuff like that in my house. I like getting stuff that is really 'me' and that nobody else has. A place where I love to look at homemade art, jewelry, etc. is the website Etsy. It's a 'global marketplace of all things handmade.' They let everybody have individual sites to sell their stuff. Most people on there are also are great photographers and I know this because the way they display their stuff looks awesome!

I just went to the homepage where they constantly have the newest items posted streaming and this caught my eye. These earrings are not my style and I would not consider purchasing them, but the photograph is awesome!
Anyhow just an example. Ok so anyhow I was looking on Etsy, being jealous of other people being crafty and I type in Hello Kitty because, well, you all know she's my fav. So i scroll through the random HK stuff people have made.
Yeah, crazy charm bracelet I'd not wear... but again... cool photography, right? So I stumble on this picture and had this epiphany on how i would get craftastic:

Yeah... this is the kind of thing I WOULD buy and also be able to make! It is well photographed (as everything on here seems to be). Look how easy, just get a bobby pin and some glue and hook it up! I did a little research and they actually sell these bobby pins with a little flat pad to glue whatever you want.
How cool/easy is that? So the most awesome thing about the hello kitty bobby pins (other than it's HK) is the cool display card it is on, right? So I was like ok I can glue random stuff on bobby pins of all sizes and colors all day long but I have to make this look COOL.... so... back to an Etsy search of graphic design assistance and display cards and... I find only the perfect thing!!!

So I contact the seller (these are only like $18 for 100 cards) and see what custom work she can do for me. I mean I LOVE the little birds, but I figure I should make it even more custom to me. So right now we are working together on the perfect card. I won't give away my store name yet (it's not super creative but it'll work)... basically here are some design elements that will be included. I'll post the final cards. She also (just because she's creating the design) she's going to make me a couple more web elements for my Etsy store (yes I am going to get my very own!!!) like banner at the top, etc.

Anyhow I'm super excited! I have ordered the bobby pins in a variety of sizes and colors. Also a lot of the little clips for toddler's hair and just a few little things to help with my designs (like tiny flowers, etc). So I will update once my design has been proofed and approved. Anyhow here are a few elements that I will have her incorporate but these could change so don't hold me to it because I might change my mind... I have a lot going on as well as some requirements (see blog below about my '5' thing lolol).


Font


Bottom right bird

Gav slept on the boat!

We got the boat bed!!! It wasn't a 'fair trade' and I had to pay a little for it and the matching sheets (I only took 1 sheet and 1 comfortor) but I got it!


It was another tough night of getting Gav to sleep. I got him in his bath at 9 then we read books in the boat bed for an hour. He kept telling me to lay on the floor because I think he was scared being that close to the floor (it's weird because he's always been fine in his pack n play which is equally low). Anyhow by I guess 11:15-ish he finally fell asleep. I fortuinately found one of those child-proof door knob things that fits over the knob so the escapee child can't turn it and walk out. I was scared Gav would walk out of his room, unlock the front door (it doesn't take keys, it's 2 deadbolts on the inside) and go drown in the pool or something. So I kept waking up during the night. I heard some bird outside (morning dove?) then at 3:30am Gav woke me up and I could hear him screaming and scratching to open his door. I opened the door, got him back to his bed and he had me lay down next to his bed again. he went to sleep really quickly and slept the rest of the night in his boat bed!

Hopefully each night will get easier! This afternoon I will take Gav blackberry picking again. It's funny how everywhere we live we find so many good berries!

I also have included a picture of the two pictures that people gave me when I left my last two jobs. I have these hanging on my new job's wall. It's so cool to look up at them and I'll read one or two nice things people write then getting back to work (I mean everything written is nice, I just don't have time to read it all every day). It's like having a yearbook on my wall! Not that anyone plans on leaving their jobs anytime soon but if you do get them to make you one of these!

I'm on a Boat!! (well Gav will be!)

So last night Gav DID NOT want to go to sleep. It was 11:30pm, he was still awake and playing and I was like "googs (Gav), you have to get in your bed and sleep now!" so he said no way and ran to play. Well I picked him up, put him in his crib and was going to let him cry it out. So I went into my room on the other side of the apt. and Gav was crying but it sounded really close. It was weird! So Jason was in the kitchen. Well so Jason goes to the living room just as Gav. opened the door to his bedroom and walked out! Jason said "Gav, how did you get out here?" and Gav, proud as ever said "I climbed out of my bed and opened the door." And it's not like I had the bar down on the crib. When he's upset like that I raise it all the way up so Gav must have gotten his leg practically over his head, hooked his ankle on the rail, pulled himself up, straddled the rail then fell 4 feet to the ground. Then got up, walked to the door and figured out how to open it. Needless to say I was not happy with him and put him back in his crib (witnessed him try to climb out, it's crazy how he can magically climb that high) and I sat on the floor in his room until I was sure he was asleep. I tipped his bookcase over because I didn't want him to wake up, climb out of his crib, try to climb up the bookcase and have it fall and crush him.

This is strange but last week I was at the Sprint store (getting my 23% employee discount there as a moses cone employee) and right next door is a kid's consignment store. Well right in the window was a boat bed! I had seen them in fancy catalogues and stores like pottery barn kids but they cost around $400, but never in a million years would I have considered getting one for gav (sorry gav). So I take gav in the store and the lady said they just opened and to tell my friends to come shop and bring all my old baby stuff and I said sorry I just moved but was sure I'd have lots of stuff to sell soon as gav grows out of his size. So I asked about the boat bed and the lady said they cost $400+ and she was selling this one for $200. So I said sorry, that's still too much for a boat bed. So she got online to prove to me that 1/2 off for a used bed was a good deal (is it? I don't think so) and for some reason whatever random website she pulled up (it wasn't even the same bed) they were selling it for $200.. new! I said well there you go, I could buy it there if I wanted to. She said make me an offer. I said no I really don't need it right now, Gav does well in his crib. so the lady said oh no, no I'm lowering the price right now, no wonder it hasn't sold. So she lowered it to $150. I let Gav play on some more stuff in the store and the lady begged me to bring in my crib to sell (apparently she has a waiting list for them? who knew?) and we left. Oh, I forgot, so along with the boat bed the lady was also selling the matching pottery barn 'nautical' themed sheets (not sure how I feel about consignment sheets).


So rewind back to last night and Gav climbing out of his bed. I immediately thought of the boat bed (it's literally only 6" off the floor). He would of course keep his same mattress (it's some fancy baby brand) because used mattresses = YUCK. So just a few minutes ago at work I thought about the boat bed and wondered if it was still for sale. I couldn't remember the name of the kid's consignment store but knew it was by Plato's closet. I called over to Plato's and the girl there said she had no idea.

I was like 'listen, do me a favor and walk outside and look at the storefront.' Well yay for Greensboro and nice NC people because she did it for me and the place is called Kid tested. I googled it, called over and asked the lady who answered the phone if they still had the boat bed. I told her who I was and she remembered me! She offered to put 'sold' on it. I asked if maybe we could do a trade for the crib (who even knows how much it's worth?) and she said for sure! So this afternoon we are going and getting the crib in Jason's truck, carrying it up there and getting Gav a boat bed!!! Possibly the matching nautical themed sheets too, I'm not sure!

Just because of Sarah!

I need to go to bed, but because Sarah blogs like every day I feel like I should too. I really look forward to her blogs and who knows, somebody might look forward to mine too? who knows!?

today went by too fast (mainly because I took a 2 hr nap when Gav took his). So we woke up and went to the farmer's market this morning! It was super crowded (as I had been warned) even when we got there at 9:30am. There wasn't a huge variety of vendors. It kind of made me a tiny bit sad because I wanted to be able to support everyone but how to you choose which you go to if they all have basically the same stuff? The things that were repeated were of course fruits/vegetables, fresh flower bouquets, honey, cheeses, and soaps. I ended up purchasing the following: wildflower honey bear, chipotle pimento cheese, Clara Marie's famous banana pudding, 7 binets (that gav walked around and ate for breakfast), and a 1/2 lb of summer sausage w/ extra sage (another thing gav sampled and had to have). Oh and a tomato and cucumber. All of the above was only $15 total it was crazy! ANyhow I really wanted a potted plant that had different elements like a tall center with some creeping flowers on the sides to put by my front door. I found it! It was only $15 so I was really happy. Oh and the plant is way huger than I need but it's cool.

So then we came home, then Jason was hungry so we got in the car to go search for food. About a month or so ago we were in town and searching for our FAVORITE spot, New York Deli. This place is the GREATEST! the menu is like 5000 things long and the desserts are so amazing and fancy. The lady who is the chef is a professionally trained pastry chef but for some reason moved to Greensboro, nc probably 5 or so yrs ago. We ate at NY Deli 3 meals a day, it was the BEST! Well anyhow when we were here a month ago the former location of NY Deli had something else in it! (ok it was on the side of a gas station but it was amazing, I'm telling you). So today we are driving around and guess what??? NY Deli had moved!!! So we stopped there asap and ate lunch there! AND you know how I work for this amazing company that hooks me up w/ discounts? Well we got 15% off our meal! We took our desserts home but YUM! So so so good!

Then gav and I took a nap for a couple hours, woke up and I finally unpacked the kitchen (my main goal for the day). Then Gav and I took the million cardboard boxes to recycle. I promised Gav if we got the kitchen done we would go to the 'big slide.' So I did keep my promise (even though I really wanted to start on his room which is a disaster). We always take a rubbermaid container when we go to the slide because there are huge blackberry bushes all over the place. We saw 4 tiny baby kittens (ok not THAT small, but pretty young). They were wild and ran into the bushes but were so cute!

We got back and it was about 8pm. I'm trying to think what else we have been up to tonight. Well I did eat my clara marie's famous banana pudding and chipotle pimento cheese for dinner. OH I gave Gav a bath and discovered the kitties pee'd all over my bag of clothes containing gav's pjs. ALSO in a box in his room. I know how to get it out of clothes but it's so sick. And yes, I clean their cat box every single day. I am not joking I really do. So i don't know what their damage is. I want to fight them, though.

Makin a list, checking it twice!

Ok no it's not Christmas... I never know what to write for blog titles lol! So today I took my first trip in many years to the NC DMV. Wow. that's about all I can say. For my new job I said I would get a nc license w/ in 30 days of starting. I just found out that the 'summer schedule' (where I get out at 2:30pm on Fridays) is up in only 3 weeks so I figured I need to get my license ASAP while I had time off during the week.

At Gav's daycare because they are open I think something like 20 hours a day (nurses and dr's work crazy schedules). The deals is you have to sign up the kid for when they will attend and it can be a maximum of 50 hrs a week unless you want to pay $5/hr beyond that. For some reason I signed Gav up for the hours that I work, not the hours that I wanted care for him. Today, for example, I had wanted to leave him at daycare this afternoon, leave at 2:30 and go to the dmv. But I didn't sign up for it that way. I e-mailed the daycare's director seeing what I could do (I figured the dmv + gav didn't mix) and the director said sorry, but Gav's teacher was only scheduled until 3:30 today. I said it was okay and i'd take Gav to the DMV with me *obviously a bad idea* So I went at 2:30 to pick him up and the lunch lady was wheeling the food cart around. As a treat today they all got ice cream sandwiches! The nice lunch lady asked if I wanted one but I was like no I'm good (they were blue bunny brand so nothing too sketchy).

Anyhow while Gav ate (actually he just kept dropping it on his shorts) I told Gav's teacher my awful taking Gav to the dmv plan and his teacher told me that in NC they had dmv for licenses and dmv for license plates. I didn't really pay attention but she said something about I had to go to some other dmv by the coliseum. so gav and I get to the dmv and it was all new and nice. we only waited about 20 minutes but Gav was feeling 'extra friendly' today towards strangers and talked to everyone waiting.
He sat next to this dude who seriously looked like a 15 year old little wayne and asked him about candy and the store. I was laughing so hard. The dude was like 'keep it real little man.' Then gav started counting in spanish and this mexican dude sat behind us and said 'muy bien!' I was like hahahahaahahhaha!

So we finally got called back and I had to take the eye test. Then the lady said 'follow me to your computer.' I was trying to figure out if it was like a camera-computer or why I'd need to go to to a computer, I mean I had passed the eye test and street signs test. Oh guess what... it's because I had to take the NC driving test!!!! what???? yess!! it's real!!! PLUS By this time gav's running around crazy, and he found some tiny truck and was driving it on the other computer screens. I was trying to read and take the test but I have not thought of any of this since I was 16 and a lot of things are different (like who's ever heard of the 2 sec rule? Ok I have but only because of that Morgan Freeman in training dude from the Nationwide (allstate??)commercials). It was 25 questions long and I could miss only 5. If I missed 6 or more I would fail. So I did pretty bad but hadn't failed yet but was on the last question, had missed 5 already so if I missed the last one I'd fail. It was a question about if your car drives off the road what do you do. the answers were like 'brake' 'steer towards the direction the bumper is in' or 'apply emergency break.' I don't know what I chose, I guess brake? So the good news is I passed. The bad news is I had to take Gav with me to wait (Again) on getting my picture taken. he was starting to get really fussy by then (crying, crawling on the dirty floor, etc). it had been probably an hour that we were there. So finally they called me for the picture, I was entirely too close to the camera and my hair is like out of the shot... you would think I had huge hair! Anyhow it was finally done and we could leave. Whew! The only plus is 1- it's over and 2- it's good for 8 years (depressing part, I'll be practically 40 when it's time for my new picture. scary stuff!)

NEW NEW NEW... New Job! New City! New State!

I don't know how many people check my blog on a regular basis, but I wanted to post a quick update so everyone can see what I have been up to the past couple months...

1) We have moved! We have moved back to Greensboro, NC. We left here 4 years ago in search for something bigger/better but after having Gav we realized that it's important to be closer to family and in this economy it is important to live where it is affordable. So we are back in the 'boro! Right now we are in an apartment. It's not the fanciest place out there, but it's nice and meets our needs. It's in a great area of town (there's a Target, The Fresh Market, Cold Stone, McAllisters... and more RIGHT across the street). The people who live here are all super nice and my friend Mel Deal from HS lives here too!

2) Gav is in a new School! Because of my job, there is an on-site daycare that is fab! Gav absolutely adores it!!! I was so happy with his previous school and was sad to leave, but the new one is awesome. They plan weekly themes and daily activities. This week for example is 'outer space' theme and today the ice cream truck stopped by the school. All the kids brought $1. Gav's teacher told me he chose a Dora popsicle. How cute is that?? Also the daycare is MUCH less expensive than the VA one. And this one is automatically deducted from my paycheck so one less thing to worry about :)


4- New/Old Friends! I have so many good girlfriends from the last time I lived here and am having fun getting reconnected with them all. I cannot wait until Saturday because Gav and I plan to go to the Farmer's Curb Market and seeing Karla who has her own Bakery: Clara Marie's. Monday we are going to Shannon's 'New Business' party at her house and I'm sure we will go to the pool again soon with Mel Deal!

I check my sister Sarah's Blog all the time and look forward to her entries. I promise I'll do better and update mine more often!