all in the family

My sister, Amanda, niece, Ella and bro-in-law, Max's visit came and went way too soon!!! But we had a quality two days of playing outside, inside, driving around places and even eating out! Fun fun fun! But boy, am I tired.

I am really in awe of how my sister is able to do it. I was having to take a break on the couch after just a few hours of playing. But she is on all the time! Ella is a lucky little girl!!

When they first arrived, we all met up with my parents and Rich (he was sooo nervous!!) near my apartment for dinner at this Italian place..then they all came back to see inside my "studio" (aka one-room) apartment. It was a tight squeeze and a big cockroach crawled across the floor right in front of everyone's feet!  Lots of screaming, and it was squashed. How embarassing!

Oh, and the girls went to this ribbon outlet! I will have to make a new post just about that. It was a-may-ziinnng.

Alright, I am off to catch up with my Etsy....I think she is feeling jealous :) hehehee

A walk in the woods

I thought I should document my vine-procurement process.

I go to this park with a nature trail near my apartment. It's really relaxing and peaceful. Sometimes I come across another person walking their dog, but usually, I'm completely alone. I wish I could have taken a video instead; the sounds are wonderful. There are all these little birds that rustle in the brush as you pass...and the creek trickles over rocks and gurgles along...

I wish I could do this everyday.

Celebrating a SHORT work week :)

Oh happy day!

Today is my Monday! (Usually, it's my Tuesday...even though it's Wednesday) But that just means that I have a 4-day work week!! :) Hooray!

Yesterday was a teeth cleaning down in Montgomery County...so I took a sick day to allot for travel times :) It was nice though. Got a LOT of etsy done, and am feeling a bit more relaxed heading into the week.

So, to celebrate, here is my breakfast!

Blueberry-topped waffles with maple syrup. I think the meal ending up costing around $20....10 for the syrup **real maple syrup, and the berries ** organic. And the waffles were by Kashi--so they were around 3 I think.

Ah well. Living a little, eh?

And guess what happens next week!?!?!?!? Amanda, Ella and Max are coming for a visit!! (my sister and family) YAYAYAYAY!!!

Here is her blog where you can see my super-cute niece in action on Easter! 

Style Icon: FRIDA KAHLO

Maybe, if she were still still alive, Frida 

would buy one my more flowery pieces :)

My favorite painting --"The Two Fridas"

From The House of Mouse!

Me and my (dark cloud of a) shadow

(photo available from munstre)

Reasons why I'm down in the frumpy dum dums this week.

I (for unknown reasons) started searching in the Etsy wedding categories and found a bunch more people who are blatantly copying off me! I mean, OK, I'm probably not the first one to make a vine crown with flowers and buttons and smaller accent vines......but seriously......can't you find your own "thing"?

I am having stomach problems (as per usual) that seem to flare up with stress. And these problems give me MORE stress ... leading to a vicious cycle.

I am really starting to not like going to work. I used to at least think it was semi-exciting most of the time working on a newspaper. You know, breaking news and all that. I even put up with people I didn't like that much. But now, my patience appears to have worn a bit thin in that regard.

I realize that I my life is never go to be exactly as perfect as I want it to be. Why not? you may ask? Probably because of my negative perception of it all. You know, there are so SO many people in the world ( most of them) who are in a worse life situation than I am. I think of all the babies dying of malaria, or homeless and starving ones....their mothers unable to care for them....Or people without a job at all or without anyone who loves them....

But then I look back at this post and count how many times I wrote " I " or "I'm" or "me" or "my" ---it's like 17 or something--- I guess I am just selfish.

But maybe we all need to be selfish sometimes, and concentrate as hard as we can on making ourselves and our lives happy.

COMB SALE!!!

Guess what????

All the combs in my shop are BUY ONE, GET ONE HALF OFF!! Woot! :)

So, basically, how it works, you tell me which 2 you want and I reserve those 2 for you with the new, improved price! FUN.

----

WEEKEND UPDATE:

Birthday weekend was a success! Rich loved his Kindle---he was playing with it at work today---and we had a lovely picnic on Sunday afternoon! While we were staging this photo op--there was an older couple who was hiking past and I *think* we offended them with our PDA...pahahhaaha :)



Then dinner at The Melting Pot (yyyyuuuumm).

For those of you who do not know of the wonder that is The Pot (as I shall henceforth refer to it)--- it is an entirely fondue restaurant!

So, you sit with a pot on your table and dip stuff in cheese, then you cook your meat in a wine/garlicy base...THEN..(o man o man) THE DESSERT!

Here is what it roughly looks like:



You get a chocolate sauce (our's was tiramisu) and you dunk in pound cake, brownies, cheesecake, marshmallows, rice crispie treats, strawberries.... sorry...drooling.....

blossoms and birthdays

My heaven would most certainly include pink cherry blossoms of every kind. Especially ones that rain down toward the beginning of summer. Some day last weekend I smelled the first sign of them--kind of a sweet and musky pollen scent.

Ah.... Good weather is coming.

This weekend is Rich's birthday! So I'm in celebration mode. I have SO much to do and pick up before I head over there tomorrow.

Candles.
Cake ingredients.
Picnic ingredients.
Wrap stuff.
Make card.


The list goes on! It's a bit stressful since this is the first birthday out of the two of us since our relationship started. So it's all on me to make it a good one that he will have to "live up to" come September!! ehehe :) I know he just wants to see me though, so that is nice :) :) :)