Laundry… NEVER!

Laundry… NEVER!, originally uploaded by ashleyg.

This embroidered illustration is from local artist AshleyG.
I am in love with it.


...exactly

Happy Valentine's Day!

, originally uploaded by DanielleT.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Valentine's Day...we have plans to make chocolate covered strawberries tonight!
This picture is from the amazing and talented Danielle Thompson...you can see more of her work here. She's pretty awesome, and I LOVE her style...

My recent faves

My recent faves, originally uploaded by lydie3.

I am in love with flickr at the moment. So much divine inspiration!

gnomish

gnomish, originally uploaded by lydie3.

gee, i love my camera. i can capture real light!
now, to learn how to bokeh!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Double Wow!

My little etsy shop has been so much fun. One of my customers gave me a shout-out on her blog! See it here
WOW! So sweet! She seems like a kindred crafty-spirit, and I am so grateful to hear she loves my shop. I've had a great time putting together these craft kits.

wow

i missed a whole month! blog-slacker extraordinare.

On the plus side, I do have most of my christmas shopping done!

i love the office

Jim Halpert: My roommate wants to meet everybody. Because I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm making Dwight up.
[takes a deep breath, shakes head]
Jim Halpert: He is very real.
[sighs]

this is why i am in love with etsy

Because you can see beautiful things like this.

Amazingly beautiful, huh?

Tonight I get to go see THE BLACK CROWES!!!!! I am so excited...this day cannot go fast enough! Happy Friday!

new etsy shop

So I started a little shop. It's called fritz/bits. You can see it here. I have a passion for thrift stores and vintage things. However, I don't have the talent to actually DO anything with the cute stuff I find. So I decided to put together bits/kits and give the really talented crafters on Etsy a chance to use all the wonderful things I find. We have some really great thrift stores in the area, and I absolutely love garage sales. So i get the best of both worlds... I can have the thrill of hunting for and finding great things, and putting everything together in great color combos. Check out my shop!

super*great*picture*post

OK, so I have finally come out of the dark ages and upgraded my internet connection from dial-up to the lowest level of hi-speed! Whoa, baby! I can post pics like crazy now. So here's a bunch of random pics to share.
Annika and I went to the park over the weekend. I always seem to get such great pics of her at this park.

Then, a page I added to the Love, Elsie flickr group.

And can you say *gorgeous* My little first-grader.

And Dave. And the Black Crowes. I have been listening to a lot of old "comfort music" lately. And *i*am*going*to*see*the*black*crowes*next*month*!!!!!!

And finally, some fun ones. The best gnome in the world, and a fun handpainted pumpkin I saw on Candice Stringham's website.

Rainy days and Saturdays

I love rainy days. And I love Saturdays. When they occur together, its wonderful! It's a stay-in-your-pajamas, putz-around-the-house, clean-a-little, scrap-a-lot kinda day. Here's a rainbow ouside in my backyard, and a new layout just for today.

New Layout and Errands

Hello there! Wanted to share a new layout before I go run a million errands today.
Have a nice day!

1st Grader

Hello, 1st grade! Annika says she can't wait to have homework. Ha! Check out little miss attitude!

Four things about ME!

I have seen this challenge on so many other blogs, and I've even gotten it on e-mail, so here goes...four things about me you may not have known...

A) FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE:
1. lifeguard
2. teleconference associate
3. mom
4. billing/collections at a dental office

B) FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Northfield, MN
2. Springfield, MO
3. Colorado Springs, CO
4. Belleville, IL

C) FOUR TV SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Sex & the City
3. Weeds
4. any home improvement/decorating show on TLC or HGTV

D) FOUR PLACE I HAVE BEEN:
1. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
2. Chicago, IL
3. Orlando, FL
4. Moab, UT

E) FOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Lasagna
2. Cheesecake
3. chocolate covered strawberries
4. guacamole

F) FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Puerto Vallarta, poolside, w/ a margarita in hand!
2. Home, at my scrappy table
3. Diagon Alley
4. On a road trip to anywhere

G) FOUR FRIENDS I THINK WILL RESPOND:
1. Um
2. maybe Creasa
3. uhhhhh
4. (can you hear the crickets chirping?)

H) FOUR PLACES I LIKE TO SHOP:
1. Tar-jay, baby!
2. Community Kindness resale shop (the best thrift store around!)
3. Old Navy
4. Goodwill
5. Big Lots (i needed an extra one, I like to shop!)

I) FOUR FAVORITE BOOKS:
1. ALL the Harry Potter books
2. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
3. Anything by Jill Conner Browne, the Sweet Potato Queen
4. Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

J) FOUR FAVORITE MOVIES:
1. Wizard of Oz
2. Office Space
3. The Royal Tennenbaums
4. Stranger than Fiction

Sorry Creasa, I had to rip this pic from you...I have NO other good pics of me!

Oops, I forgot you were here!

I almost forgot (again) that I had a blog! But after two friends reminded me to post (hi Creasa and Diana!), I decided to give you a whopper.
First up: Eye Candy!
I stumbled across a great site for band posters: www.gigposters.com

Here are some favorites for you to enjoy. Great site for inspiration. Color combos, lettering styles, etc.

Also, a great etsy shop:
www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5117373
Really great simple scandinavian jewlery...i can imagine stacking those colored rings four or five at a time on my long fingers!

Next...my BFF! If you have never checked out Creasa's blog, you must. See the link at right: Live out Loud. She is so dang talented, and I am so proud of her. She started her new job today as a reading teacher, and she has been posting so much scrappy goodness lately, and things are just really looking like rainbows and sunshine for her in the future.

And, my brother, Will. He is turning out to be such a multi-talented guy. I am loving his photography lately. He started a new website:
www.willvastine.com
He does really great work, and it is really fun to see his talent and personal style emerge with each shot.

Next up, Elsie. If you're a scrapper, you've already heard of this super-fabulous girl. Every day, she just rocks it! Her flickr site is a wealth of wonderful images. I get so much inspiration from her, and can't wait until her new line of scrappy stuff comes out:
www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com

So there you have it. Good old eye candy. Can't go wrong with that for a blog post, eh?

CHA, baby!!!!

Whoooooweeee! I am posting to you live from the cyber cafe at CHA!!! Yay ME!! I still can't believe I'm here!
I had almost forgotten that I had a blog....but now I needed to post just because I can!
There is so much goodness here that I just can't bear it. My paychecks are really going to suffer!!

Straight pimpin'

We love our neighbors. Just look at these hustlers! Ha Ha! Truly these three could not be further from pimpin'--but they look cool!

I'm going to see a concert tonight....BEN FOLDS is opening for John Mayer!!!! WOOT WOOT!! I have been wanting to see Ben for a LONG time! Yay me! Is it sad that I don't even really care too much about the main act, I just want my Ben!?!?! I'm sure John Mayer will be good, and all, but BEN!!! I get to see BEN!! (can you tell i'm a little excited!?!) Have a wonderful Wednesday!

The First Grader

I totally forgot to post these pictures! I am so proud of my Kindergarten Graduate. She was so excited to officially become a 1st grader. And I swear she has grown up so much just in the past few weeks that she's been out of school. Sweet girl!