Happy Howl-O-Ween!

Here is a little montage of creepy lovely Halloween-inspired pics for you all:

I can never get the stupid credits to work...bah.

Some more fun Halloween stuff include Cristin's ghost story, Hostess with the Mostess Vampire Martini, and this online Ouija Board! Not quite the same as going to a cemetery on Halloween night to play it (what was I thinking? Oh yeah, I was 15, I wasn't), but you may get the answers you are seeking!

Have a frightfully lovely night and a wonderful weekend. xo

A Brand New You

There’s a bit of a new look on ye old blog. Although, I just noticed Midwestern has two s’s and isn’t capitalized—oops. Inspired by Jenna’s and Amy’s new looks, I was up until too late last night messing around with this.

I added a third column, new banner, and some Crackbook gadgets. It’s a tad busy, but much better than before. Ahhhhh. My friend who is Sign Inspector for the city where I work said the banner was not readable. I really liked the woodgrain though. It was difficult to choose a good color for the text. I like the glowy lettering though (more Photoshop playing), but maybe I will have to do some tweaking. What do you think?

“A Brand New You” comes from a great movie, Married to the Mob. Kinda dated and cheesy now, but Michelle Pfeiffer is adorable in it. Rent it sometime! Be on the lookout for a cameo by Chris Isaak as a clown hit man!

ONE MORE DAY TILL HALLOWEEN, SILVERRRRR SHAMROCK!!!!!!

**Edit: I changed the font on the banner. Is ok? I'm liking this html stuff. Wheeeeeee!

Don’t Hate Me

I got to meet Robert Pattinson while he was shooting Little Ashes. NO! I’m just kidding (it was filmed in Spain anyway). Seriously, I won Grosgrain Fabulous’ Little Red Riding Hood jacket!!!!!!!

I held off entering on a regular basis since Viv won her Popcorn outfit, but I couldn’t resist since Quinn is LRRH for Halloween and I am fixated on LRRH as well. AHHHHHHH, good stuff. Makes up for the fact that I’ve had a not-so-fun day at work. Let’s just say that when da boss ain’t happy, no one is happy (which is the nice way of saying that when your boss has a burr up his arse, he's a total turd).

Another lovely little warm and fuzzy making me happy today is Amy’s post. You may remember the giveaway I had a while ago. Last minute, I threw in some vintage embroidered linen napkins that had been sitting around for eons. Lo and behold, she upcycled them in a lovely way. Look how beautiful!

And she just told me we made it into Craft Magazine's blog too!!!! I'm riding her coattails. :)

Other things making me smile today:

+Cheeky song lyrics by Outkast on the radio that I have always loved: “Lend me some sugar, I AM your neighbor!” (just as cheeky, “Shake it like a Polaroid picture”). Gotta loves the Andre 3000.

+Uber cute girl’s clothing at Target that my almost 3 year old can now fit into (she can wear a girl’s XS which is a 4/5!!!!) She’s so tall!!!)

+Organizing my swap stuff for Holly. Alllllllmost done. Here is another little sneak peek.

+This article about McCain student supporters at Penn State. I don’t know WHY, but the part about the robot made Ryan and me HOWL with laughter. Maybe we were just punchy. Is this funny to anyone else????

On Overload!

I’m so sorry my posts have been so sporadic. These next couple weeks are going to be crazy. I feel like I’m doing just *ok* on my DUCF stuff. I still need to make some more of these ornaments:

The 3D images don’t show up as well in the photo as they do in person. I just love all these images because they remind me of when I was a kid. In fact, if you haven’t noticed, most everything that I make is reminiscent of something I had or liked as a kid.

I also apologize that I haven’t been listing much handmade stuff in my shop. Starting November 16, I will be listing lots of new stuff including ornaments, dioramas, and stocking stuffers, so check back!

I am itching to show you some things I’m creating for my FIRST EVER swap, the Aqua & Red Swap! My swap partner, Holly, and I have been bonding over e-mail. I’m not sure if she reads my blog, but I will defer posting pics until after I send my package out. I jumped on the aqua/red color scheme because those are my signature Girl Land colors!

One thing I made this weekend acknowledges our mutual Twilight adoration (read: fixation), and I am soooo excited at how they turned out! I’m actually starting to understand Photoshop a bit better. It’s so overwhelming, but these little projects allow me to play around with the commands and such.

The other items I will send just happen to fall into the kitchen category. Here is a little sneak peek at one of the items I’m sending:

Well, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. My cousin and I had 10th row seats for the So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour. My cousin is a big Twitch fan, I think Gev is adorable—I want to pick him up and put him in my pocket. He and Courtney had a cute little exchange on-stage which started with Courtney rebuffing Gev, Gev continuing to vie for her attention (by dressing up in traditional Russian and Viennese WOMEN’S garb no less), and ended with Courtney kissing an unsuspecting Gev (awwwwwwww). So dorky cute.

Oh My Cullen!

So there's an actual term for what I am:

Twerd

1. A twilight nerd
2. A nerd and "some other word combined." (This definition might have come from the 1st one, but the people who haven't read Twilight or New Moon or Eclipse do not understand.)

Person 1: Oh my Cullen, I just got an Edward and Bella t-shirt!!
Person 2: Really?! Gimme gimme gimme!!!
Person 3: You both are such twerds
Person 1 and 2: Grrrr!!!

***Edit: Whoops! I totally inadvertently plagiarized. I meant to include the Urban Dictionary link from which I plucked the definition. I really don't have an Edward & Bella tee. But I may very well wear a tee that says "Twerd". It's just a good word, no?

That Sounds About Right

So typical Monday. I get home, I'm tired and crabby. I feel like I live in squalor. Everything is in chaos. Quinn eats her dinner (crab quiche and grape tomatoes) and Ryan gives her a few orange segments-- she starts choking on a piece because she takes WAY too big of bites...and she pukes all over me as I'm eating my dinner. Lovely. All night long I got to hear, "Sorry I puked on your pants, Mommy."

I started making some glitter houses like last year's. Glad Amy nudged me in the right direction because my heart wasn't into it. Until tonight! I like this one, and I do think it looks better in person, but I'm wondering if it's too plain or too gaudy. I like that perfect mix, ya know? I owe the color combo to Sweet Jessie. And the little girl in the doorway came from some wrapping paper she sent me last Xmas-- I printed it on vellum. It looks cute with a little flicker LED light inside. I couldn't get a good pic of it with the lights off though. I feel like there should be something around the windows, but I don't want to overdo it. The windows are also vellum that let the light through and they do look less plain in person.

So I'll have two like this one at DUCF, two like the last year's, and one medium size that I'm not sure of the color combo yet. Maybe a red house with a white roof? Seems so crazy to be talking about Xmas since we haven't even seen Halloween yet!

Speaking of, we took the girls to Boo at the Zoo this weekend. We were hemming and hawing up until the very last second. Stopped at Pronto for some booze to warm our cockles (um, us, not the girls) and then proceeded to the zoo. Quinn decided she liked saying, "Here you go" instead of "Trick or Treat". Priceless. Vivian was just all around pissed. We had a snowsuit for her with ears on it as her costume was being altered, but she wasn't having it. So Ryan zipped her up in his jacket, poor baby.

Hope everyone survived their respective Monday. When you get puked on, the week can only improve, don't you agree?

One more thing-- I have a new term here in Girl Land bloggy world, COO (= Currently Obsessing Over). Today I'm COO the upcoming Twilight soundtrack. I thought I was too old to appreciate Paramore, but then I read the lead singer is 34 (Older than me! Yay!), and their song, Decode, is super catchy. I will be buying the soundtrack on November 4 after I cast my vote (EEK). Another nifty draw is that I read today that Robert Pattinson's voice (he sings a song on it) is like a young Jeff Buckley's. SOLD! Actually, I think the latter's songs Everybody Here Wants You or New Year's Prayer would have been lovely and fitting for the soundtrack. Or Fiona Apple's The First Taste. I told you...COO emphasis on the first O.

Demoted

No, not me, silly. It’s a movie! They were filming at my workplace today (well, at the library and I am at City Hall next door), so I lurked at different times during the day. It stars Sean Astin, Michael Vartan, and David Cross. Our library was turned into Reilly Auto Parts. I managed to take a couple really sorry pictures. I only saw Sean and Michael but Celia Weston too. Unfortunately, I did not get to see Mr. Tobias Funke in the flesh.



Michael Vartan was looking very cute in a gray suit. I was more infatuated with one of the hottie set assistants who was sweet to us lurkers. During one of the takes, a woman had her baby with her who started crying after they rolled film. Then her cell phone went off. Celia Weston turned around and sssshhhhed us. I thought we were going to be forced to de-lurk (the horror!), but luckily, the dumb-A didn’t ruin it for the rest of us.

Patrons were trying to return books all morning and apparently had to give their books to the film crew because the book return was all blocked off this morning. Half the people didn’t even know who the actors were. Some guy said, “Hey, he’s from Harry Potter!” about Sean Astin. Yeah, not so much.

Anyhoo, a fun little diversion on a Tuesday. Betcha you didn’t know Michigan was such a film mecca (remember my Sigourney Weaver experience?)! Well, our governor started offering incentives to film companies which was a very good move, so there will sure to be more!

Growing a Deer Family

So I've picked up some of these guys lately. Some are for sale in my shop!

Nothing like this collection of lovelies that belong to Something's Hiding in Here. UGH! I just love their loft. It kills me.

You can see some of the other treasures I've picked up lately on my Flickr page. I'll be listing them throughout the week. Wanna be updated when Girl Land lists a new item? Subscribe to my shop feed!

Happy Columbus Day. I had the day off (government holiday), so I tried to make some headway with making stuff for DUCF. Instead of keeping my nose to the grindstone for DUCF, I've been reading Breaking Dawn, signing up for Apron Thrift Girl's Red and Aqua Swap (my first swap!), and trying to come up with ideas as gifts for Quinn's daycare buddies for her birthday next month.

I can't believe my little girl is almost 3. Today she said, "Mama, look at Mary's ghoulish ghost!" (her daycare provider has a ghost decoration in her front yard). Where did she learn "ghoulish"? Love the things that fly out of her mouth on a daily basis.

She loves looking at birthday cakes with her dad while they grocery shop on Saturday mornings. They have ornately decorated Dora and Diego cakes. I've been non-committal. She doesn't even LIKE Dora or Diego. Well, today she asked me for a "Res-lick Eric" cake (you know, the singer of her favorite song). So it may end up looking something like this (ha!):

So Much to Say & Creepiness

I have lots to say! Bear with me…

I’m irritated at Weight Watchers. Too long of a story to explain. Good news is I’ve lost 1 lb since Monday. Whoot!

Brings me to part I of my Creepiness. I started taking Alli. I won’t go into specifics, but let me just say that the side effects are really disturbing and just downright nasty. And I don’t think I can stick with it. It’s just not worth it. Anyone out there take it before and have any tips for me? Oh, but I am down 7 lbs. overall since I started WW 9 weeks ago. A little slow, but I recognize that I have the mentality I’ve had in the past, and I won’t back down until it’s all off.

Second part of my Creepiness. My parents just returned from a trip to Traverse City. Remember that insane asylum I told you about last year? Well, they walked around the grounds and stuff too. On the way home, they stopped to see my aunt who reminded my mother that they had an Aunt Barbara who was epileptic, and she was sent to that asylum for shock treatments in the 1950s which is, I guess, just what they did for epilepsy back then. Eek, CREEEEEEPY!!!!

I’ll have some cute vintage item pics tomorrow for you. Hubby’s been out of town this week, and I haven’t had time to take pics until after dark. My mom did give me a stash of my stickers last week. Look at these two beauties inside! Totally unscratched.









Another fun thing—top secret at this point. For those of you out-of-staters, Michigan has just started offering all these nifty tax incentives to film companies. Long story short, I may get to watch filming of a movie on Monday near my workplace. Will keep you posted!!!

Last, but not least, I have a new boyfriend:


Yeah, me and 1 million 15-year-old goth girls, right? Robert Pattinson has edged out Ryan Gosling on my top 5 list. Can’t help it—the man’s beautiful. I told you I’m boy crazy.

Have a good weekend, all! xo

This is What a Dork I Am (eek!)

Contest #3 Winner

Sorry I'm behind in this. Winner #3 is julieua! She says:

"Love, love the s&p shakers and of course that quilt. So cool of you to have these give-aways!"

No problem! I owe you all a small something for the love you've shown me. So thanks again. That was fun! xoxo

I'm Selfish, I know

Go enter Grosgrain's Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Winner for Contest #2!

....Isssssss my newest Facebook comrade, Amy of Early Bird Special!


She said,

"OMG! How cute is that loot?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed. <3"


The crossing of the fingers seemed to work. Well, that and showing me linky love for 2 extra chances. ;)


Thanks, all, for playing! In the next few days here, I will be listing lots of new vintage goodies. I hit a great antique store in Kalamazoo while I was there for my conference, and, of course, have buyer's remorse. I got some uber cute stuff. Here's a taste-- a graphic my friend, Katie, found for me in the store...not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I want to make something.



Also, I am OBSESSED...like totally OBSESSED with the Twilight books. I read Twilight in like 24 hours, and I'm 2/3 of the way through New Moon. I am so hating Jacob. WTF? And, like, how could she not see through Edward when he left??? So between my True Blood hang-up (PAM!), and my Twilight book fixation (thanks to Cristin and Kate and my bro too), I am officially a vampire addict. Ack. Can't wait for the movie to come out.


OSB Update: I weighed in after my conference, and I'm down another 1.2. Go me! It's only 6.4 lbs, but it's coming off slowly but surely. I did lots of walking. Which must of negated all the drinking (oy)-- at night...not during the day. I have a new favorite flavored martini, by the by. I'm thinking they are like 5 pts each. Gads.


Hawaiian Wedding Cake Martini-- I think it's just Stoli vanilla, Malibu Pineapple (I don't think it was juice because it wasn't super sweet, believe it or not), and cherry grenadine shaken with ice. If anyone has heard of this, let me know!

Contest #1 Winner

The lucky winner is..........(drumroll, please!)......

Julie Andrea who said (and I agree),
"Oh, those piggies are so cute, I don't think I can eat bacon for the rest of the week now. :-(Julie "

Yay, thanks everyone. I will announce the next winner for Contest #2 on Monday. Julie, I'll be emailing ya!

Contest #3

Since I'm out and about, this will be short and sweet. The final giveaway will consist of this cute painted vintage quilt:

These salt & pepper shakers:

And this windmill apron that I've been hoarding for tooooooo long. I shall set it free (sorry for the crap pic-- I'm rushed, so I used an oldie).

Leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, October 7. Don't forget to leave me a link to your email or your email addy in the post. Link to the post on your blog and you get 2 extra chances to win. And don't forget to enter Contest #1 for some Girl Land Bucks and Contest #2 for a Vintage Craft Pack. Enter all three! Equal shots of winning each.

Thanks again, all, for humoring me and letting me be creative in such a wonderfully friendly and crafty environment. You're the best!

I'm on a bad movie streak. Help! I need to break it. The last three movies I saw were Definitely, Maybe (worst), Sex and the City (should've left it alone after the series finale), and Forgetting Sarah Marshall which I've been waiting FOREVER to see. Parts were funny. I love my Judd Apatow and Jason Segel (that guy is like 90% wiener), but it just didn't cut the mustard. What bad movies have you seen lately???