Printemps

I received the May issue of Romantic Homes today, and there were some pretty pics of spring flowers in market buckets. Made me remember this picture I took in France 4 years ago...

And here are some more Springy pics from Monet's garden. When you walked into the gardens, the smell of hyacinth punched you in the face (in a good way, ha).

Total C U T E N E S S

On the front Etsy page today. Eye candy much??!!

The Good+, The Bad- & The Ugly!

+My new shipping label prepared by Lisa! I am so impressed. My regular graphic design go-to gal is getting married this month (the nerve!). So I did an Alchemy request instead, and found Lisa who whipped this up really quickly…and CHEAP. I should be able to do stuff like this myself, but I really need a book or take a class for my Photoshop which ain’t happenin anytime soon.

+My mother-in-law is staying with us this week to watch Q because her daycare is closed for Spring Break. So she made chicken souvlaki last night. Tonight is tacos. Ahhhhhh. I don’t cook like ever, so it has been nice.

+I had a surprise switch in docs at my 34 wk appointment today. It was with a man OB. Thank God no pelvic exam needed today! I didn’t want more people than necessary checking out my biznass, please and thank you.

+Dexter is on Amazon Unbox just in case I miss an episode. If you have Tivo, Amazon Unbox is so cool!

-All my maternity shirts are getting too small on me, and I refuse to buy more with only 5 weeks to go. Not a pretty sight.

-My boss told me I looked like an Easter egg on Monday (I had a pink sweater on). Yesterday, he said I looked like an egg yolk (I had a yellow shirt on). I told him to get the eff out of my cube because his stripey shirt was making my astigmatism go zany. D*ck.

-My poor dear friend, Amy, is 3 days past her due date. C'mon kiddo! We're all waiting!!!

! My sausage fingers, heartburn, pregnancy congestion, and mostly my super gross CANKLES (I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you). I retained water like this when PG with Q, but it was late summer…not early spring!

! Grody Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is organizing his Legal Defense Fund. Get the fudge out of office, you scumbag!!!

Nature is My Church

Ok, so the Catholic guilt has officially set in. This is the first year in 33 years that I missed mass on Easter. There are several excuses I could give you (most of which are dealing with the fact that I am pretty uncomfortable with only 5 weeks to go until baby arrives). Many, many reasons-- can you tell I'm rationalizing? :)

ANYWHO, we did go to the Frederick Meijer Gardens butterfly house instead, and I seriously meditated. It was very peaceful, and being with family and watching Q in awe of the butterflies was a pretty religious experience, I must say. We had Easter dinner and dressed up and such on Saturday, thus the jeans in the pics below.

I hope you had as nice an Easter as we did! xo

Forest Critters

Had to show you pics of the new quilt!

And Q's new forest friends clock!!!

Slowly coming out of my candy coma. I think I ate my weight in malted milk eggs and white chocolate Reese's eggs. Bleh.

Happy Easter!!!!

Tiny Green Knots & Contest Winner

My mom picked these Beginners Story Leaflets which also say, "Evangelical Departmental Graded Materials" on them. Kinda weird, but I love all the pics on them. They are from the late 30s. This one is entitled, "They Saw Tiny Green Knots on the Stems". Thought it appropos for the FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!

So now, down to biz-nass. The 200th post wiener, or ahem, winner is......

SARAH

We typed everyone's names out (3x if you mentioned me in your blog) and put them into my Chet & Dot log drawstring bag. Congrats, Sarah! I am still not sure what you're getting, but I will compile some treasures and will be sending them out probably early next week. Thanks for playing, everyone!!! xo

It’s the Big 2-0-0 All Around!

So this is my 200th post AND I received my 200th heart on Etsy today as well! So it’s double giveaway time in Girl Land!!! Whoooooo Hoooooo! The donor of my 200th heart is Kerri of Maya Elise Boutique. I just happened to find her shop this morning and LOOK at this doll!

Of course, I had to snatch her up for Q’s room. She will complement it perfectly. I also picked up these booties for Vivi.

Anywho, Kerri gets a Girl Land Certificate—good for some GL merchandise. BUT, my bloggy blog giveaway will consist of some Girl Land items, some vintage items, oh, and some custom return address labels! Gonna try to stay spring-related to get the spring mojo flowing. C’MON SPRING!!!

So, same as before, but a little different. Leave me a comment with your favorite spring tradition, memory, picture, craft, song, recipe (or link thereto) or just say hello! I'm not picky. I will draw a name at random this Thursday, March 20 at approximately 7:48 EST (exactly when spring begins!!!). AND if you link to my contest in your blog, you will get two additional entries—just be sure to leave me your blog addy!

I know I cheated a bit (3 posts in one day??), but you don't mind, do you?? Comment away! xo

Stranger Danger!

Ok, you know how I loves me some horror movies. This one looks good! And inspired by true events too. Eek!



Also excited that The Orphanage comes out on April 22. Double eek!

I must admit I'm cheating a bit on so many posts in one day...you'll see why in my next post...

Luck O' The Irish

Happy St. Pat's, y'all!




Corned beef was good...just stinky. We had more tonight. No more red meat for awhile (bleh).

Tees for Two

So I told Jessie that I loved the outfits she made back in September and that I'd love to buy one for Q this spring. She told me she would make one for Q as a gift (how generous is she?), but she went above and beyond generous, that's for sure! We were out of town this weekend, but guess what greeted me when we got home today????

That would be a spring outfit for Q, a bib and onesie for Vivan, AND some totally cute and kawaii Japanese mushroom candy. That shirt for Q KILLS ME. You can see more pictures here. So cute and so extremely thoughtful. I was so giddy! I tried to get Q to model, but she was being a super turd after the car ride home. Another day, I suppose. Thank you so much, Jessie!!!

Despite his recent conversion to pescetarianism, Ryan is making an exception and continuing the tradition of corned beef and cabbage. Our house smells very beefy right now (ugh), but the finished product is worth it. He makes a great honey mustard glaze for the brisket too. Mmmmmm...red meat. You can see the reflection of the slab in the left pot below. Heh.

Loves Me Some Alchemy!

Gawd, as if I'm not a big enough Etsy addict, I could be on Alchemy alllll dayyyyy longgggg. I posted my first request today since Alchemy's long-awaited return. I've been looking for a few random things for Q's room-- the biggest of which was a wall clock. So I made up a request! It looked like this.

I accepted the bid of a super cool shop, Trixieandradar. How have I not stumbled upon their shop before???? Look at some of their wares!

Anywho, they are going to do a custom clock for me. Red/white polka dot background with woodland animals, stumps, mushrooms, moss, stuff like that. Doesn't that sound poifect?

Well, it's almost 3am, and I cannot sleep. I went to bed at 11, but tonight is the 4th night in a row that Q has decided to get up in the middle of the night. I can't fall back asleep to save my life!

In other fun news, Jessie is having a blog giveaway for her 250th post! You can enter here. Be on the lookout as I am nearing my 200th post as well...therefore, I foresee a Girl Land giveaway as well!

Ok, all, have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We've rented La Vie En Rose to watch tomorrow night-- gotsta love the Edith Piaf. Hopefully it will be better than In the Wild that we watched tonight. I knew I'd hate it, so I messed around on the computer and read my new Martha while Ryan watched. I can't believe the dude had such a cult following. He was a bit of a self-indulgent prick. But I enjoyed the ending immensely. That was mean, sorry.

Other highlights of the weekend will be seeing my parents, Jonah Hill on SNL and Ryan cooking up his annual corned beef and cabbage. Even though he's now a self-proclaimed pescetarian (that's a whole 'nother story).

I'm Such a Lazy Lout

I'm running like 4 days behind on everything. I soooo meant to post this earlier. LOOK, just LOOK at the package I received from Catherine at Red Shoes!!! How sweet is she???? Alllllll this for winning her blog contest! I'm such a lucky duck. And Q made out like a bandit.

Adorable packaging...


Someone couldn't WAIT to see what was inside...


Then she usurped this super cute dolly...


And also got some new socks! "For mushroomy feet", as Catherine explained...


The BEST and most THOUGHTFUL piece ever-- a super cute linen pillow appliqued with an adorable mushroom. The "4" is because there will soon be 4 of us. I got kind of emotional as I opened it/read her note!!!

I just loved everything. Thank you soooo much, Catherine!!!

Last week and this week have been slightly dramatic/traumatic. I was having a really hard time walking last week (scary) and ended up driving myself to the hospital Thursday after work. After a lovely exam and lots of monitors being strapped to my belly, they determined I wasn't going into pre-term labor. They thought V was just sitting on a certain nerve. Feeling much better this week. At work this week, an offensive cartoon made its way onto our bulletin board. Well, offensive to some (how offensive do you think Dilbert can get?). Anyway, the witch hunt for the cartoon-posting culprit has been on, so that's been interesting.

On a more happy, less intense note, did you catch Emily Martin on Martha? I loved her because she seemed a bit nervous-- how could you NOT be? So cute. Another happy Etsy-related note: ALCHEMY is back!!!!! If you have never used this tool, you need to check it out! I've bought a few custom things this way, and the gears will be turning on what else I can dream up. I've missed it so much. Toodles, all. Have a great rest of the week! xo

Ode to My Retro Paperboard Suitcase Searcher

Yes, I’m talking to YOU there in Buena Park, California! I hope I’m not freaking you out, ha. I’m intrigued by your method of reaching my page. I have a little cheat tool that allows me to find out how people come to find my page, and I see that you have visited me 41 times through a search of “Retro Paperboard Suitcases” since the beginning of December. I’m so glad you stop by! Won’t you say hello, my mystery reader??? :)

On a completely unrelated topic (and disclaimer: I am going to start boring toddler talk now), Q has been sleeping in her big girl bed now for 3 nights with NOOOOOO issue!!!! I was a bit embarrassed to tell you that we gave up the struggle after our first attempts and let her start sleeping in the crib again. But we actually moved the crib INTO the new room. Even the first few nights in the crib in the new room were a teensy bit tough—lots of waking up in the middle of the night and crying for no reason, so the trauma must have stemmed from the new room, not so much the new bed.

You do not know how worried I have been about trying this again. But Sara’s and Amy’s successes inspired me to tough it out! Even though the hubby wasn’t very supportive of the Cry It Out method, so that was stressing me out even more. Luckily, no CIO was necessary. She slept 11.5 hours straight Saturday night with only a sleepy “Mommy, Mommy” uttered at 1:30am but went directly back to sleep. Phew!!!!!

BA on MS!

I am sure most of my crafty cohorts know that Emily Martin of The Black Apple is going to be on Martha on March 11. My Tivo is set and ready to go! But since I know some of my non-crafting friends and family read my blog, you must know that I would consider her to be one of biggest crafting heroes. Others being this sweet lady who inspired me to open my Etsy shop and of course, Miss Stewart herself. But I digress.

Emily's success with Etsy is crazy! Over 12,000 items sold, and she makes her living at it. I do think it's nice that she still pens personal little notes in her packages and writes you the occasional email when you comment on her blog. Here are just a few little things around our house that have been created by Emily.

Mama and Baby Dunce Dolls in my craft room:

A Bandit Hedgie Tee for Quinn (won't fit her for awhile):

Wee House Stationery:

And my very first Etsy purchases (made about a year and a half ago) now in Q's toddler room!





And a few of you sweeties have asked to see Q's room. I'm a little embarrassed of it right now. The whole theme was to be pink & red and enchanted foresty. No fairies, but mushrooms, looming trees, hedgehogs, and gnomes. Welllll, I'm waiting on the quilt and I'm hoping that it pulls everything together because right now I'm feeling like my vision is not turning out as I'd hoped. I still need the perfect clock and curtains, but I may wait until after the quilt is on the bed. Thinking just plain swiss dot curtains with light blocking shades underneath, but not sure of that either.


Also, wanted to share with you this little ditty. I found the first mix CD I ever made, and Q and I were rockin' out to it on the way to lunch with my cousin this morning. I love this song by Fleming & John! I particularly like the lines "Does she tell you want you want to hear? And I bet that she could grow a beard. I'd feel better thinking you were queer..." Sigh. What a sweet song.


Hope y'all survived Monday. I'm off to eat dinner...lobster bisque and yeast dinner rolls homemade by...NOT ME-- Westborn Market, actually. :) xo