Vinyl Rocks My World

Engaged!

2010-09-29T14:12:00.003-04:00

New update:

I'M ENGAGED!!

M proposed to me in our living room Sunday evening while I was joking with him about proposing to me. :)

I'm a super lucky girl! And he is such a sweetheart. I am so thankful to have him in my life.

Let's see how this journey plays out! This chick's got a wedding to plan. ;)

Nephew #3's 1st birthday!

2010-08-17T07:12:00.000-04:00

Sunday was my sister's first son's first birthday. We celebrated with all of their family on Saturday, and had such a great time. Baby D has grown up so much over the past month since I last saw him, and of course over the past year!

And golly.. he sure is a cutie! :)

That was one of my favorite pictures of the day.. How great is that face? And the belly! Oh dear..

And then there's this one.. that's me and the baby, and he's got the wheels churning in that cute, tiny little head of his. He's trying to fool me with his charms here.

And this is when he decides that he wants to share his birthday with me. On another level.

Happy birthday, Baby D! Auntie "Manda" loves you!

Weekly menu

2010-08-16T08:10:00.003-04:00

Weekly recipe list: 8/16-8/22

Monday:
Perhaps out to the hot dog bar.. A friend is doing a HUGE favor for M and I and we may take him out if I'm back by dinnertime.. will post about that favor later! ;)

Tuesday:
Spaghetti

Wednesday:
Chicken Enchiladas

Thursday:
Out to eat (chicken wing night!)

Friday:
Parmesan Chicken

Saturday:
Quesadillas?

Sunday:
Out for Japanese Hibachi

This is a pretty busy week, so I can't even think about planning out my lunch! But I did pretty week. Hard to stick to a menu (and I didn't totally stick to it), but I'm definitely more aware of how much M and I go out to eat! Trying to scale that down so we can save up money a little easier. :)

Post your menus or any recipe ideas!

Eat Me Monday #1

2010-08-09T07:32:00.001-04:00

Weekly menu (8/9-8/15):

Monday
Lunch: Ham and turkey sandwich, carrots
Dinner: Dinner plans with K - if that falls through, Dinner will be chicken quesadillas with pineapple for dessert

Tuesday
Lunch: Ham and turkey sandwich, carrots
Dinner: Chicken Parmigiana

Wednesday
Lunch: Fried chicken salad
Dinner: Enchilada Casserole

Thursday
Lunch: Out with Coworkers (We usually eat pretty healthy.. Sandwiches or Pitas are usually on the menu)
Dinner: Out (1/2 price wing night with friends)

Friday
Lunch: Leftover casserole from Wednesday

Friday PM-Sunday afternoon, we'll be out of town for my nephew's 1st birthday.. This means we'll each be at our parent's houses. Can't plan a meal there!

Sunday
Dinner: Hamburgers on the grill, salad, fruit salad

So this should be the plan for this week! Deviations are always expected because I can't fully commit.. plus, who knows what M will be in the mood for! :)

Post some recipes to share so I can have some new things to cook next week! :)
(And let me know if you want to know recipes for anything I've got on the menu!)

Weekly recipe list

2010-08-09T07:10:00.001-04:00

I'm going to confess. I graduated college in May, and I live a few blocks from campus. Since I was so close (and I had NO idea where the campus shuttle bus stopped in my neighborhood to drive me over there), I walked to class every day. Sun, rain, hail, snow, ice.. you name it, I walked it. Or rode my bike in it. ..I digress.

Anyways, since I graduated, I have been either on vacation or working at my full-time desk job. And when I say desk job, I mean it. Desk. Job. I sit at my desk 90% of my day when I'm not getting up to go to the restroom, walking to the shipping dock, or getting a file folder from the supply closet. I do a lot of spreadsheet analysis, replying to emails, and things like that.

So I've gained some weight over the past 2 months since I graduated.

Most of me is blaming it on the fact that I'm not walking like I used to, which was definitely exercise. Part of me wants to think that I'm gaining weight like I'm spending money.. because we've been eating out a lot more (lazy) and I've been spending more than normal.

So here's my plan. I'd like to start posting my menu for the week so I can get myself organized, aware of how much I eat out, and hopefully get OUR eating habits better. M and I are guilty of not eating our fruits and veggies like we should.

Are you ready? I'd love your help on this project as well.. If you have any good recipes that are easy and don't require a lot of ingredients (still in a broke college student mind-set without a lot of time) I would LOVE to hear from you!

Thanks, and post some recipes! :)

My newest obsession.

2010-08-06T07:21:00.001-04:00

My newest obsession: TRIVIA!

I started going out with a few coworkers to dinner at different bars around town, and I have discovered a whole new world of the town I've lived in for 4 years..

.. There is a large population of triva-playing people, and bars will let you play for free.

.. and those bars will even give you free food/cash prizes if you win.

What genius did this??

And where was I when this hit the area?! So my newest favorite thing to do is play trivia.

And just to let you know - I'm terrible at it! ;)

Dessert can be adorable

2010-08-05T07:38:00.002-04:00

How cute are these cupcakes?!

It's really easy to jazz up an ordinary cupcake. Sprinkles and cereal are used here. You can also use candies, little toys for kids, icing decorations, and more. Let your imagination go wild!

Or you can make these delicious and stinkin' adorable cake balls.

Just think of all the cake flavors and chocolate colors you could use for these! Plus, they are SUPER easy, thanks to Bakerella's recipe (included! See the link below!)

Here are the links for all these charming little desserts. :)
Lucky Charms Cupcakes - Betty Crocker
Red Velvet Cake Balls - Bakerella

This post and blog are not sponsored in any way by Betty Crocker. Betty has no idea who Amanda or her blog is. Amanda just really likes her grub.

Wedding..

2010-08-04T07:10:00.000-04:00

Not my own! But someone close to me.

M's grandfather is getting married in October!

To a very sweet lady named Pat. They're both very active, spiritual, and overall great company to be around.

And they've asked me to photograph their wedding.. how could I say no? :)

I grew up never knowing a grandfather, because both my parents' fathers passed away within a year of my birth. So getting to be around M's family with how close they all are, it's been like having a 'papa' of my own. He's the sweetest, gentlest man; he and Pat really seem to fit together with where they each are right now in their lives.

I look forward to celebrating with their family in a few short months!

Crafting projects

2010-08-03T07:49:00.000-04:00

Back to that increasing list of craft projects I'm looking forward to..

I've been inspired by some of the weirdest things lately. A coworker is planning her wedding after being engaged just 1 month ago.. and she seems to be almost DONE! With all the of the major things for sure, but it's so exciting hearing her talk about what she has planned. She knows what she's doing!

I also saw a dog last week with the fluffiest tail, really making me want to make some yarn pom poms. You know what I'm talking about, right?!

Well here's a few of the items on my list to try my hand at:

- Magnets: I snatched up a great find at a yardsale last weekend.. a 12"x12" standing magnetic memo board. And it's my favorite color.. purple! So I need some super cute magnets to adorn this for my office. Thinking covered clothespins and those glass "bubble" magnets.

- Etched glassware: A friend of mine always brings his beer stein to "bring-your-own-mug" night at a bar down the street, and our University's letters are etched into the glass. What a clever gift idea, and it's completely personalizable!

- Some sort of bedazzled memo board, be it covered/painted corkboard, chalkboard, or something magnetic. I've got ideas a-churnin' and I've just got to find the time to make it happen!

Those are just a few on my list. Let me know if you've seen anything lately for inspiration!

Cloud of suspense?

2010-08-02T07:22:00.005-04:00

I have a nice good list of crafting projects I'd like to tackle soon, but there is this gigantic cloud hovering over me like something major is coming up.

Oh yeah..

FOOTBALL SEASON!

I've joined forces with the ECU Marching Pirates for another year, but this time I'm not a student member and I'm not marching. I'm the staff photographer! This means I'll be at all the games with a spiffy press pass, allowing me to go most anywhere I want to go.

This also means I'll be out on the practice field with them a LOT when I get the chance outside of my FT job.. primarily band camp, which is coming up in a few weeks. I'll be hanging around a lot during practice over the weekend to get some good action shots of the students and staff doing work. Oh yeah, and I'll be at all the football games, of course!

So needless to say, Fall is going to be busy busy busy between work, football games, band practices, and ... a wedding?! More to come later.

Did you miss me?

2010-07-30T08:02:00.001-04:00

I forgot to mention I went on a 3-week trip during the month of July. It was great!

- I flew to Tulsa, OK

- Drove to Mt. Vernon, MO

- Gambled in Oklahoma

- Took an RV to Wichita Falls, TX (and stayed the night on the couch of said RV)
- Continued the RV trek to Austin, TX

-Spent a few days in North Austin at my aunt's house (which is in the neighborhood that Dazed and Confused filmed it's popular car chase scene)

- Attended a cookout at my uncle's cattle ranch outside Austin and got to 4-wheel on their HUGE amount of land at sunset

--> Saw lots of cows:

- Drove to Lake LBJ to the famed G family reunion for nearly a week

... This family reunion is no joke. My dad has 10 brothers and sisters, of which he is the oldest. I have close to 50 cousins on just his side of the family. No joke!

- Drove back to Austin to stay at another aunt's house and floated in Lake Travis for a majority of the day. Very nice!

- Flew to Atlanta, GA

- Worked my first trade show. Stayed in a great hotel in the middle of Downtown ATL with an awesome view.
- I was officially greeted to "Hot-Lanta" by a man on the street on the last day of my stay.. and man, was it hot that day.
- Flew to Raleigh, NC and spent a little time with my folks.

- Drove back home to Greenville

- Went back to work at 7:30 AM the next day.

Phew! Exhausting, huh? It's good to be back. It took me a solid week to recover.

Happy Thursday!

2010-07-29T07:24:00.000-04:00

Well hello again, bloggerverse!

Lots of changes have been going on this summer.

1. I graduated and earned my BSBA in May... WOOHOO!

2. I got a job that exceeded my expectations in what I would be doing after college. (Double woohoo!)

3. That job pays much better than what I was expecting. :)

4. Dora turned a year old a few months ago.. our adoption anniversary passed a month ago.

5. I'm still alive and kicking!

I have been cooking much more frequently, and I LOVE it. I try to cook (or discover) something new every week, though it's hard to find the time. It's a lot easier to go out to get something to eat, rather than decide what I'm making, go to the store for ingredients, and take twice as long as the directions say it should take to prepare.

Don't get me wrong.. I really enjoy cooking!

It's just lots easier to go out for 50-cent boneless wings with beer on special at the joint down the street... I'm just sayin'.

Anyways, just thought I'd post an update! Like always, I hope I can get back into this bloggin' biznuss. ;)

I Heart Faces - Pets

2010-06-29T20:44:00.007-04:00

Hey folks!

So I ♥ Faces is a wonderful site that will certainly inspire you if nothing else! I learned about the website over a year ago. The nicest people you have ever met on the web go to that site! I have definitely improved leaps and bounds since my first entries to their weekly contests!

Anywho, this week's challenge is pets.. and man do I love my Dora girl. I know I posted this picture pretty recently, but I love it so much! So I'm entering it and gotta post it again. You don't mind, do you?

But don't let this picture fool you.. she's a total meanie. She loves her daddy way more than her mommy. And pretty much all of the pictures I take of her are when she is sleeping. Or when I accidentally awake her while I'm taking pictures of her (see above).

She's got devilish, fiendish eyes. And her teeth? Fuh-gedda-bout-it. I think she was a shark in her previous life. But she the sweetest little furbaby and she loves me.. when she's sleeping! ;)

So please head on over there to check out other awesome entries and discover lots of tips, tricks, and inspiration!

And you know what's kind of funny? I thought I had talked about her like this before.. and I had. I'm sure I do often, but this post from last December is pretty funny. Another I ♥ Faces challenge.. and pets, too!

Denver, here I come!

2010-05-20T06:01:00.000-04:00

My brother is getting married this weekend, and I'm flying out with my boyfriend and parents this morning.. wahoo! It should be a fun-filled weekend full of great food and lots of extended family I haven't seen in a long time.

My brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law are literally from complete opposite ends of the country.. so it's a little funny they met where they currently live, in Denver. I'm kind of glad they're getting hitched there, instead of Oregon.. although I wouldn't mind going to see the west coast! However, that would be a heck of a plane ride.. and planes make me a wee bit nervous.

What's been your worst experience while flying? (I promise I won't read anything until AFTER I return!) :)

Oh, kitty..

2010-05-19T09:58:00.001-04:00

Every time I try to pack a bag or suitcase to go somewhere, she thinks she's coming along for the trip.

Oh, kitty, you're a trip!

Roller Derby

2010-05-18T08:27:00.000-04:00

I decided a couple years ago that I wanted to join a roller derby (when I was of age and when I had the time). Well I'm 22 and I'm a college grad.. and still finding employment! Getting back on some wheels and exercising sounds like a wonderful activity to do in my downtime, right?!

So I've been searching around for a derby league in the area.. and of course some roller skates. Has anyone been a part of a roller derby team, and is it as scary as my boyfriend thinks it is? He said he doesn't want me coming back from practices/bouts with black eyes and bruises.. (aww.. thoughtful!) but I reassured him that I won't necessarily get knocked around like that.. right?

I mean, I'm not the biggest girl, so I'm assuming I could get rolled pretty easily. Unless I have good ducking and maneuvering reflexes.

However, I haven't really roller-skated since I was 13 and went to the roller skating rink every friday night with my girlfriends..

Didn't you hate it when your mom called your friends "girlfriends" when you were younger? I don't understand why I got my panties in such a wad about it.. It's not that big of a deal. I used to giggle when she said she was going out to lunch with her girlfriends, thinking "How many girlfriends do you have, mom?!" Oh.. immature mind.

Forgot to update you!

2010-05-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

I wrote a little while back that I was nominated for an award this semester by one of my professors. Well, it was presented Grammy's-style at a banquet in April, and I won Second Place! It was (and still is!) such an honor, and I still feel humbled. The winner was the speaker for the graduating baccalaureates at my departmental graduation, and she will definitely continue on to do great things, as will the third place winner! It was such a rewarding experience, and I am so thankful for being given such an opportunity.

For those who missed it, it was for "The 2010 Most Promising Female Entrepreneur Award", given to a student at my university and sponsored by an area business-women's organization.

And my picture even made it into the paper! Right on! :)

Hi again Bloggerverse!

2010-05-14T21:11:00.002-04:00

So things have been crazy busy the last few months, and now everything came to a screeching halt. I just GRADUATED from college last week (and lost my student job at the same time because I graduated..) so things have been a little boring! I got to go home and spend some time with my family and my nephews, and now I'm neck-deep in a massive job hunt. So the resumes have been flying, and the phone's been ringing, and I'm just doing what I can to get myself out there and hopefully get a bite! :)

I got an iMac a couple months ago, which was the best life decision ever. Next to buying my first digital SLR last year. And I found an amazing deal on a wii the other day that I absolutely

couldn't refuse (15% off coupon at Target.com + 10% bing cashback = $150!), so now I've just got to find a wii fit bundle at a good price. Haha!

Needless to say, I've gotta start making some money so I can pay for all of this! And get some awesome new photography equipment that I've been dying to get my hands on. :)

Just wanted to let you know I'm alive and doing great! I know I keep saying it, but I really want to start back blogging more often. I've missed it!

And here's a picture of Dora that I am LOVING! Took it a few weeks ago.. she's precious. Can you believe she loves her daddy more than me though?! Oh, those eyes.. !

I lied!

2010-04-06T09:59:00.000-04:00

I lied! I'm sorry. I'm indecisive, and if you've hung around this blog for a while you might know that by now.

So for dinner last night, I ended up cooking this:

Homemade Chicken Strips

and Roasted Potato Wedges

Only my chicken didn't bread as easily so it was just very flavorful and yummy non-crunchy chicken, and my potato wedges were very crunchy and full of flavor and incredible. Oh my!

And they paired well with this pinot grigio I got from the store the other day... I can't believe I was so blind to not see that this delicious wine existed!

Thank you Ree (Pioneer Woman) for your AMAZING recipes and true talent in the kitchen. I will never go hungry again!

On a side note, why does it take me 1.5 hours to make dinner that should only take 40 minutes? I have a tendency to make cooking times double with any recipe I try.

My mouth is watering!

2010-04-05T18:17:00.002-04:00

I've been on a serious recipe-hunting binge for the last few weeks. Have I had the time to cook anything except breakfast last Friday?

No.

But I swear, these websites will make you want to jump in the kitchen.

Please go visit and make your stomach envy your eyes. :)

PW COOKS

Also from PW, TASTY KITCHEN

And to hit your sweet spot, Bakerella

Yum! I'm off to make something delicious.. perhaps something to make me feel fancy, like Chicken Piccata?

Yum. Enjoy!

Oh, and please let me know if you'd like me to share some yummy recipes with you.. maybe a once a week feature? Because I'm on a serious kick right now. And I would love to share my hunger for deliciousness with you. Please comment and let me know what you think!

Living Green

2010-03-30T16:00:00.005-04:00

Hey folks,

So I wanted to share with you something that I've been super excited about for the past week or so. Growing up, recycling was just a natural thing for me. My family would fill up the recycling bin every week with all of the soup cans, milk jugs, soda bottles, orange juice cartons, and cereal boxes we went through (and it was a lot, coming from a family of six!). We also had a can crusher out in the garage and every time someone had a soda (or my dad's drink of choice, budweiser), my duty as the youngest child was to run out to the garage and crush the can for recycling. It was always my favorite chore!

Getting to the point now. I still recycle (and my friends think I'm crazy for it sometimes), and I was surfing around ebay last week.. that place is great by the way.. and lo and behold, guess what I find? MY PARENTS' CAN CRUSHER! Well, not their can crusher, but the same model and style they had! So of course I'm going to scoop that up. Now I don't have to take my recycling out as often, and I can use less trash bags taking it to the recycling center! Wahoo!

This is my crusher of choice.. looks cool and it's extremely reliable. My parents have had it for as long as I remember, and it looks like they got it in the 70s. And ebay sellers' prices are pretty good on it too.

Pretty cool name too, huh? "The Crusher".. sounds like a wrestler or something.

Oh wait, it is!

Hahaha!

Yall have a beautiful green day now, you hear? :)

Wow, what an honor!

2010-02-14T13:35:00.002-05:00

I've been nominated for an award! It is the "Most Promising Female Entrepreneur" award, given by a network of women business owners in the area. Three students are nominated at my university and one is announced as the winner later this semester. How exciting is that?! It is an honor in itself to simply be nominated - two of my professors noticed my work and feel I deserved the nomination, and I think that is just great.

I am so appreciative for being thought of, and will definitely keep you all posted as any news comes in. Of course, I wish the other to ladies in my program the best of luck! We will have interviews next month and the winner will be announced in April.

Now it's time to get busy on these records again! A few friends came over and we had arts and crafts night. We spent forever in the craft store and ended up picking up some wooden frames to paint. And I saw a PIRATE SHIP bird house.. how fitting! I may have to pick that up next time I'm at the store and paint that up.. it's so funny! :)

Happy Valentines Day!

It's a new year!

2010-01-13T08:26:00.004-05:00

And I couldn't be more thrilled. You know why?

THIS IS MY LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE EVER!

Yes!

I graduate this May with my bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. I feel a little unprepared because I don't know what I'm going to do when I graduate. A lot of friends and peers are going to grad school or have careers planned out, and to be honest, I have set a pretty low bar for myself. To be completely honest, I think I would just be happy as a clam working as a receptionist or office admin somewhere.. I like the boring organization, filing, busy work, and tedious tasks that nobody likes. And I'm a little afraid of having a lot of responsibility in decision-making that an upper-level management person would have. I'm a pretty stellar student (holding down a 3.72 GPA in my last semester.. I think that's pretty great!) and there's no reason for me to not think I can do better than an entry level job.

Is this weird?

Anyways, I don't know if I mentioned it, but I was the secondary photographer at a friend's wedding in December, and I must say that some of the pics turned out FABULOUS! I was "in charge" of following around the groom/groomsmen before the wedding and taking pictures for the guestbook. I ended up taking a lot of pictures of little things from the wedding that may have been missed otherwise, and it was a lot of fun! Can't wait to do this again! :)

Take a look at some of the pictures from the day.. and please let me know what you think, either here on this blog, or where there are more on flickr!

And how do you like that new watermark? Woohoo! :)

All my best,

I Heart Faces

2009-12-15T22:38:00.003-05:00

I love this photography website.. I haven't had much time to spend on it in a while, but it is so helpful and has so many tips!

This week's contest is for pets! And man do I love my Dora. She's such a sweetheart! (Well.. except for this week.. she's been eating everything in sight that she's definitely not supposed to! Boyfriend is pretty angry because she seems to be eating all the things important to him right now - 2 xbox headsets and his phone charger.. ouch!)

Anyways, I took this picture in October.. Love it! Didn't even edit it at all, this is straight out of my canon rebel xsi. It rocks! :)

Enjoy checking out that website if you want to look more into your photography skills! It's a lot of fun and it's amazing to see everyones' work.

Life's been busy!

2009-11-18T21:15:00.003-05:00

So.. I've been thinking about you all in blogworld lately, checked out VRMW today and realized I haven't blogged since June. JUNE?! Dear, I'm sorry! Life has been busy, but it's been good! A lot's happened since I last posted.. I moved across town (and in with my boyfriend!), got a kitten, started my second-to-last semester in college, and now I'm almost done with said semester! The football team's been doing pretty great this year and I'm a membership candidate of a national honorary band fraternity.. and I've basically been busy as a bee!

The kitty's cute as a button.. she's my sweetpea! Can't believe I didn't blog about her.. I think we got her a few weeks after my last post and she was about 3 months old at the time. Her name's Dora and she's amazing - she's so inquisitive and SO SMART it blows my mind every day. Smart can be good and bad.. but I try to think it's mostly good. ;)

Here are some pictures!

And it's certainly getting to be that happy holiday shopping season time of the year! I started noticing when I began getting sales on Etsy out of nowhere.. I was like 'wait a minute.. I've been neglecting my shop for a few months now (along with this blog).. how am I getting sales out of the blue?' Well needless to say, I've started restocking the shop. :) And I sold my first chip/dip bowl last week! Right on! :)

Hope to chat with you again soon!

Following your dreams..

2009-06-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

I would just like to say right now that I am doing my best at living my dream and doing what makes me happy. Right now, I am persuing photography (here's my portfolio!). I got a desk job on campus about a month ago and it's great. It's a nice change of pace from working in a restaurant (I don't come home smelling like a kitchen!). Interviewed for another job before I got this job, and didn't get hired because I wouldn't be full time in the fall. Well, ended up they DO need me after all, so I'll be starting there this weekend - it's at a photography studio!

I've had a lot of photoshoots lately (and a LOT more coming up, since I got my new camera!). I have learned so much with every shoot.. here's what I've been up to lately (and there are tons more that haven't been released anywhere yet!) ;)

In chronological order, here's some of my pictures over the past month. - The first two are with my Fuji s8000fd bridge camera, the 3rd with my dad's Nikon D80, and the last with my brand new Canon Rebel XSi.. took it yesterday!

And if you're wondering about the perspective of my nephew with his helicopter, that was his brand new toy that he picked out when I was home - as a congratulations for finally "pooping in the potty"! Way to go, booger! I wanted a picture to 'commemorate the occasion', and thought this would be a funny way to remember that weekend. :)

Second post today?!

2009-05-26T19:41:00.002-04:00

So I've been wanting so much to include some extra goodies in my packages to customers, but I just don't know where to begin or what to get! I added a poll on the right side column of this page, and I would appreciate it so much if you gave me some input!

If you have any suggestions, personal experiences, special requests, or anything to say please leave me a comment here. Or, if you'd like to include some of your own promo goodies in packages I ship out, I'd love to do a trade for them! (All I have right now are business cards though!)

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate you loyal readers! :)

Goodness gracious!

2009-05-26T11:15:00.002-04:00

You know, I sure have been thinking about this blog lately, I just haven't updated.. it's been a MONTH! Wow. Sorry, guys and gals!

Well, what to even begin with? Things have been crazy. I've finished my spring semester, and I'm back for summer classes. My roommates have moved out and I'm in the apartment all by myself (weird!), so my mom has been yard saling like crazy and I have a fully stocked kitchen. Right on! I've been home a few times, and my two nephews and my sister's pregnant belly just keep getting bigger and bigger!

I have been really getting into expanding my photography skills and portfolio, and would love to get into the field professionally (or semi-pro, amateur, anything really!). I have done a few photoshoots for free with students here, getting ready to do lots more portraits and a few weddings, too! Ordered a new camera - a Canon Rebel XSi, and it's getting delivered today to my parents' house in Raleigh. Too bad I'm in Greenville! I made a portfolio page for myself, and I'll put a little link up here once I update it with pictures I've taken lately. :)

I promise I'll get back to posting here soon now! Though I'm not sure what the new route will be, since I have so many new things going on now! Two adorable nephews, another niece or nephew on the way, my boyfriend and I are moving in together (officially) in July, and OH! Did I mention? I have TWO new jobs! I'll save talking about that for tomorrow though. :)

Lots of sunshine, happiness, and love to you all!

Tag! I'm "it"!

2009-04-27T07:22:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged by If I Had A Hammer. I'm sorry I haven't been blogging too much lately; Finals have finally arrived, so I've been going crazy the last few weeks.. They've started (for me) today! :(

8 things I'm looking forward to...

1. Hearing back from some of the jobs I've applied/interviewed for - Especially one at a photography studio in town.. ahh! :O)

2. Being FINISHED with exams.. 2 today, 1 Thursday, 1 Friday, and 1 next Tuesday.. the most exams I've ever had to take!

3. Going on some photography shoots with a few people I've been in contact with - yes, I took the jump and I'm testing the waters for paid photography. I'm SUPER nervous! (It's only $20 an hour, but I'm just hoping I'm good enough/worth the 20 bucks!)

4. Having enough money to afford an SLR by the end of the summer.. ideally now but I know that's not feasible while I'm jobless.

5. My sister having her baby in August.. I'm so excited for her!

6. Moving in with my boyfriend in July - we already pretty much live together but it will be for real in about 3 months!

7. The Strawberry Festival in Vanceboro, NC this saturday.. I hope there are strawberries!

8. Graduating college, beginning a career, and spending the rest of my life with my best friend.

8 things I did yesterday.

Let me say this weekend.. I didn't do much of anything yesterday but I did on Saturday!

1. Friday - Went on an interview at the photography studio and suuuuper anxious to hear back!

2. Saturday - woke up early.. who does that?!

3. Saturday - drove to the coast with my boyfriend. We ate amazing seafood at Capt. Bill's in Morehead City, NC. Awesome popcorn shrimp!

4. Saturday - Went to the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores; saw sharks, albino frogs, everything! It was great.

5. Saturday - Went to bed early and woke up early again on Sunday.. had an awesome lazy weekend!

6. Sunday - Had pizza for breakfast! But every time he or I have eaten it (including when we first got it for dinner on Friday) we've gotten stomach-aches.. guess we should throw it out, right?

7. Sunday - laid out by the pool with my roommate for a bit. Man, it was hot!

8. Sunday - Studied my butt of for two exams today. I hope I do well!

8 things I wish I could do.

1. Travel through time to skip through exams and things I don't want to do

2. Graduate. PRONTO!

3. Afford an SLR camera

4. Get on a regular workout routine. I hate that I can't fit into any of my skirts or shorts from last fall.. I don't know what happened. Maybe too much beer?

5. Control my eating. I never thought it was a problem, but it's got to be all my snacking if it's not the beer that's done this to me. I can't control what I eat or when I eat it, and I wish I could.

6. Get a freakin job.

7. Not let my emotions get the best of me sometimes.

8. I wish there was one thing I was awesome at.. I do a ton of different things that I can't excel or be great in. It's really annoying!

8 shows I watch.

1. 24

2. One Tree Hill

3. Greek

4. Family Guy

5. George Lopez

6. Full House

7. Fantasy Factory (with Rob Dyrdek! He is sooo funny)

8. Boyfriend has the remote all of the time, so insert all sports programs/video games ever created <> ha!

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do it I'd love to read! This (surprisingly) took a long time to fill out.. it's hard to think of 8-things for everything! haha :)

New phone!

2009-04-20T09:07:00.002-04:00

That's right, my friends. I've been clinging dearly to my previous phone for 2 1/2 years.. and have been through quite a few replacements (of the same model) due to it falling apart! Well, lucky for me, my dad's phone started to crack the week before Easter and he knew I was coming home.. so Happy Easter to me! :) (yeah, I know I'm super late about blogging about it.. but I was so excited I kind of forgot to brag a bit!)

Ready for the reveal?

Here's the old phone, all scratched and scuffed in its glory:

And the new phone!
It's the LG Banter, and it has awesome color and a full keyboard. I think my favorite part is that it shows the actualy conversation with the texting - every message to and from any particular number is grouped together and color coded for who-said-what.. and when you're done you can delete it ALL! :) Very nice.

Yeah! So that's my little post. These pics were taken with my dad's Nikon D80, and I absolutely love the clarity and aperture. It's amazing, and I'm suuuuuper jealous. Really wish I could afford an SLR (or the boyfriend would allow me to put one on credit!), but I guess the wait will make it better and I can find a super fabulous camera for cheaper maybe?

In any case, have a wonderful day! I know life has been much more exciting with this new phone.. it's something new to talk about and spend my time figuring out how to use!

What an honor!

2009-04-16T10:16:00.005-04:00

Thank goodness for Google Alerts. They are really a gift!

I got an email yesterday, letting me know that "vinylrocksmyworld" had a hit on the internet. It was an article written by Laurie Grassi on StyleAtHome.com What an honor!

Laurie is the executive editor of Style At Home magazine and she was the guest curator for Etsy's The Storque yesterday. WOW!! You can read The Storque article HERE, and the (same) post on the Style At Home website HERE.

Needless to say, I am absolutely tickled to death! This totally made my year, and I am so excited to get the much-needed promotion right now. Sales have been depressingly slow since the Christmas rush.

Maybe this is a sign I really need to get on my guns and make some more listings! I have plenty of things that aren't up in my shop yet.. it's just a matter of taking the time to do it. You know what I mean? :)

I hope you all have a fantastic day! This weekend is going to be beauuutiful here!

Laurie mentioned in the blurb about my white vinyl bowl that she hopes I get more stock of the colored vinyl in.. I wish I could find more too! She said a number of people would be interested over at the magazine perhaps, and I know I would love to get some of that cool vinyl in. The white vinyl freaked me out (in a good way, though!) but I'm glad it sold on Tuesday. :)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T13:27:00.004-04:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I got a chance to go home this weekend and spend time with my family, and I really enjoyed it. Got to hang out with my nephews a ton - they're both growing up so much!

This was one of my favorite pictures of the day; my nephew hunted for easter eggs and I was trying to get him show me what he found.. this was his way of doing that!

I'm also entering this in this week's I ♥ Faces Easter/Spring contest as an amateur. I'm really happy with the way this picture turned out!

Head on over to check out some more entries, there are some really talented photographers - a lot of them are moms! (some even CRAFTY moms!) ;)

Have a lovely day, and don't forget about my 20% off sale in my etsy shop!

April 22nd is just around the corner - Annual Sale!

2009-04-08T08:49:00.001-04:00

I'm celebrating having too much inventory and Earth Day, of course!

So I'm having a 20% off EVERYTHING sale! The end date for this is TBA (because even I don't know when I'll decide to end it) so that means get it on it now before it's too late!

Please include "WELOVEEARTHDAY" in Notes to Seller at checkout, and I'll send you an updated invoice or a refund. Order soon, and you'll have your goodies before Earth Day so you can party in style! (You are having a party, right?!)

These are some Earth Friendly lookin' labels in my shop now that would be PERFECT for your party! (sorry for the shameless plug.. but this is my blog, right?) :)

(Click pictures for direct link to the listings!)

So mark your calendars.. April 22nd is the big day! - Earth Day, that is!

Live GREEN and Rock On,

Haha, Gotcha!

2009-04-07T21:47:00.002-04:00

So most everyone caught on that it was an April Fool's joke I played on you! (I know.. not very nice!) ;)

However, a lot of that is truth! I am super busy with classes and I'm having a hard time catching up on my blogging. I do have a ridiculous amount of craft stuff and inventory that I need to get rid of, and I am a little tired of not getting any sales. But there are ways around this!

Stay tuned tomorrow morning for an extra special surprise! :)

I quit!!

2009-04-01T15:10:00.004-04:00

As most of you know, I've been pretty slow for the past few weeks on updating the blog and listing new items.. Well, this semester is kicking my butt and I've got to get a job to keep paying for groceries (Etsy just isn't cutting it anymore!) It's really hard to keep up with everything that I'm doing with my e-business along with being a full time student (with lots of extracurriculars), full time girlfriend, and keeping up with all the other stuff I'm doing (like volunteering at the Humane Society!). Plus, I'll be graduating next spring and better get out there in the job market while I've still got that college edge!

So I've decided I'll take my sanity first and quit the biz. No more blogging responsibilities, no more etsy shop, not more CRATES UPON CRATES of record bowls/albums/records that I'm just never going to sell. Half my room is filled with ~~crap~~ craft supplies that I'll never use that just takes up space. I'm tired of having so many extra responsibilities! I'm always so stressed out and realized lately that I'm living on my computer all day and night. It's a sick obsession!

So all those record bowls, mail organizers, and other stuff that I've made? Well, this is what I've been doing today. They've met their maker with a hot pink hammer.

The rest of them will be used as practice targets for my shooting range friends or placed around campus as decorative sculptures or something. Or maybe now my frisbee friends have an endless supply of stuff to throw since they lose their frisbees all the time in the trees!

Oh well. Moving all of my stuff this week. Wonder if vinyl recycles?

Anywho, I hope you all have a nice ~~April Fool's~~ - ~~I mean April 1st~~ --- I MEAN SPRING!! :O)

In case you ever break a light bulb.

2009-03-27T12:18:00.000-04:00

So in case you ever get in trouble (like I did yesterday!) I thought I'd pass on some useful information.

See, I went to Target on Wednesday, and I've been searching for a daggum lightbulb for my ceiling fan ALL WEEK LONG. Attempt 3 of light bulbs didn't work, as well as 2 and 1. This ceiling fan is the weirdest thing ever.. and I'm still not quite sure what type of bulb to put in it (you'd think it'd be a regular lightbulb.. right?)

Anywho, I used the 'reveal - clear light' bulb (that didn't work in my overhead light) in my desklamp.. it was an expensive bulb and couldn't go to waste! Installed it around dinner time, okay.
So yesterday morning I'm in the shower at 7am (so you know I'm still asleep) and I hear something fall in my bedroom that sounds like GLASS. "OH CRAP!" I was imagining the worst.. that Pier 1 vase I just bought BROKE and there's glass and broken pieces all over the place.
OR SOMETHING FELL ON MY LAPTOP!

Oh dear.. I need to figure this out.

So I'm searching around my room, all over the place. Window? Electronics? Pottery on the top shelf of my closet? ANYTHING?! What the heck happened?

So then I look on my desk and I see that brand new lightbulb - the glass bulb fell off the base of the light and left it with all the inner workings.. hanging out in my lamp.
Well crap.

So I googled and twittered and got some help on how to get that P.O.S. out of my lamp.
Solution? Cut a potato in half, and jam the middle-side up in the lamp (PLEASE UNPLUG IT!) and turn it, like you're juicing it to make potato juice.. or like you're unscrewing the light bulb. ;)

Voila! You've got yourself a potato light!

Just kidding.. you've got a free socket for a new, unbroken light bulb. :)

Happy Friday!

Update on the shop, and helpful resources!

2009-03-26T08:46:00.000-04:00

Just in case you haven't seen it, I created another (yes, *another*) new banner for my etsy shop! I love the new look, and it is definitely a lot cleaner and easier to read than before. To tell you the truth, I didn't realize you could upload banners and avatars that were larger than the specified size that they show at! Using a larger image than what displays makes the image much clearer and it loses that grain that will appear when it is distorted or stretched in any way. (hope it makes sense if you're not too clear on what I'm talking about!)

Anywho, I created my old banner using Scrapblog, which is a really fun site to play around on if you've got the time! It's online scrapbooking with TONS of awesome graphics and tools on there to use.. I made a blog post about it last fall with some pages I made! (If you go make anything, please share with us here so I can go check out your creations!)

Here's my banner line, starting with what I started with last week, and what I ended up with by the weekend! :) The ones after the original green one were made purely using Picasa - my FAVORITE easy-editing photo program. It allows you to organize your photos by albums, date taken, number of people in them, etc; also lets you do a ton of editing and even add text! Great find, and if you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest you try it out!

I like the dotty banner too, and may go back to that one when I get tired of this collaged yellow one.. but I liked the drop shadow I made (there's no tool for it, so I did it by layering the text) and I thought the pictures in the background was pretty neat. I'd want to change the dots on the second-to-last one if I were to use that in my shop - the text is a little hard to read when it's sized larger!

Once you're done cropping your banner and everything in etsy, I use Irfanview to resize the banner so it's not 300,000x1,000,000 pixels big (haha.. not really that big!), but you get the "picture". Irfanview is easy to use once you get a hang of it, and it's the best program I've found to resize/crop images quickly.

Of course, all of these programs (and website - scrapblog requires no download!) are free and useful for your image editing/organizing/creating needs. Hope you can use some of this information!

Mid-Week Feature #7

2009-03-25T11:36:00.001-04:00

Today's mid-week feature comes to you from Brentwood, NH. Give it up for Rachel Grande - Designer and Creator over at Think Outside The Box! She's a real cool mom (and if she were mine, I would make HER cupcakes to make her day!) Know what makes her awesome in addition to her fabulous work? She tries to reuse as much packaging as she can, to be ecologically responsible. Way to go, Rachel!

She has perfect feedback, has made 65 sales, and looks to be off to a great start here on Etsy! Her one year Etsyversary passed in February, so go give her some love and snatch up some of these lovely creations!

What is your craft?
Definitely not a question easily answered. I am quite eclectic in my crafting and the mediums I choose. I could never brand myself as just one particular type of artist. I indulge in needle felting...or obsess is more like it! I adore felt..any kind of felt..dabble in polymer clay..love to sew..learning about embroidery,,and my ADD is now allowing me to paper craft too..But there is much more to it and me...

How long have you been crafting?
I think I knit myself a baby beanie while I was in the womb..Hey..it gets cold out there!
Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the Vagina Monologues..doesn't it?

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
What don't I do is the question at hand!...And I think it is all relative to who you ask! If you were to ask my 16 year old son..he would tell you that ALL I do is bitch..at him in particular..maybe nag a bit too. If you were to ask my 21 year old daughter..she would probably tell you that all I do is put up with everyone else's shit..If you were to ask my darling hubby..well first he'd give you a list of things I don't do...anymore..and then probably tell you that I don't do enough!

But, if you were to ask me..well I'd tell you what I do...I drive my ungrateful kid wherever he wants to go..I do put up with way more garbage than any person should..I do make dinner regularly like Edith Bunker..I do spend an abnormal amount of time with my dog..I do tons of laundry..I do pick up after everyone in my house..I do look the other way a LOT..I do consider myself to be a very understanding, loving, caring, sweet and kindhearted mother, wife, confidant, friend and person..and I DO complain about all of the above but I DO love them with all of my heart..well..most days!

What is your favorite part of what you create?
Well my greatest creations are my two brats...and my favorite part of them is when they are either sleeping..or better yet..sleeping at someone else's house!

In all honesty..regarding my craft..this is going to sound so ridiculously cliche and such bullshit..but I do adore getting such positive and personal feedback from the people who buy my items..It is such a rush every time I hear from my customers..and it would seem that people always want to share their most intimate stories about my pieces..so I am very fortunate about that.

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
The only thing I'd change..is how it is marketed and exposed..especially on Etsy..I always feel that if I could just get more exposure..like the Front Page..then I'd be more successful...

What is one thing most people wouldn't know about you?
Most people wouldn't know that I think my Jack Russell Terrier, Gracie is the incarnation of a beautiful Indian guide I call Carmella...and that on occasion Gracie actually responds to me when I call her that name!

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Crafty, loving, funny, talented, hyper-sensitive

What inspires you?
Birds...the outdoors..money..my mortgage...feeding my kids..paying for college..car payments..electricity..dog food...doctor bills..I think you get where I am going with this!

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
The most important thing..if starting to craft and make money while attempting to do it from home..is to get up and take a shower every morning..and invest in at least 5 pairs of comfortable and cute pajama bottoms. Second and equally as important..is to carve out a crafting area for yourself and be as organized as you can...even if you are in the living room...in front of the TV..have your supplies at hand and put together...

Where else can we find you?
Flickr
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
ThisNext

Rachel would like to offer a giveaway for you all, so here's the deal!
Win your choice of her Bunny Ears Brooch (which will arrive just in time for Easter!) or a felted birdie ornament. YOU CHOOSE! (she'll even customize your colors and features!)

Check out her FLICKR page to see more examples of her rockin' feltwork!

Here's what to do:
Visit Rachel's shop at ThinkOutsideTheBox, and comment with what your favorite item is and which of the two items you'd like to win (We all know that people like options!) :)
Please make sure you've left a way for me to contact you in case you win!

For extra entries: (Post one extra comment for each task completed)
1) Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a link to your tweet. (You can follow me @rocksmyworld if you'd like!)
2) Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post
3) Suscribe to my blog
4) Subscribe to my newsletter
(3 and 4 are different - There are seperate forms for each of these in the sidebar.. take a look!)

That's 5 possible entries for each of you! Good luck, and make sure to enter by Tuesday, March 31st at 11:59pm EST. That's when this contest is CLOSED, and a winner will be picked!

In addition Rachel is offering a discount of 25% off your entire order (before shipping) by using the code "VRMW25" in Notes to Seller at checkout. So go run quick and get to shopping before that expires! This discount is valid until the deadline for blog entries, so shop before next Tuesday night to cash in on this awesome deal.

Until tomorrow (and with love!),

Late post

2009-03-24T21:45:00.004-04:00

Apologies for posting so late - I was planning on updating the blog earlier today but had a lot going on! Test this afternoon, registering for classes, grocery shopping, running errands.. I'm still not done with everything going on!

Just a reminder that you have just over 2 more hours to enter the giveaway going on here (right now!) for a headband or custom tutu from 3Sister!
See my last blog post to enter. :O)

Come back tomorrow morning for an exciting new feature (and, dare I say, another giveaway?!)

Hopefully I'll get back to doing more updates during the week for you all, I've got a lot going on that I'd like to tell you about!

Have a beautiful week, and see you back here tomorrow morning!

Mid-Week Feature #6

2009-03-18T07:13:00.003-04:00

Welcome to another Mid Week Feature! This week's artist is Cailey, from Midvale, Utah. She is the creator over at 3Sister. She is new to etsy (joined up in the end of January!) and has lots to offer to Etsy! Her work is super sweet, and I am especially taken by this beautiful crocheted headband!

Here's what she had to say for us this week:

What is your craft?
My sisters and I do handmade hair accessories as well as children's tutus. We hope to branch out to more items once our shop is booming!

How long have you been crafting?
My mother has always been a huge crafter. In the house that I grew up we had a barn in the backyard. Did we have horses and hay? Oh no. We had craft supplies galore! My sisters and I had a lot of fun going out there and coming up with ideas with my crafty mother.

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
I have a full time job as a secretary for an accounting office so from January to April 15th, it keeps me really busy. Other than that, I spend time with my husband and family doing all sorts of things.

What is your favorite part of what you create?
The endless possibilities! Seriously, give me some fabric, buttons, and a glue gun and I've got ideas on end!

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
The good thing about crafting with my sisters is that we help each other out. So if I try something crazy and they don't like it, then it let's me get a second look at what I'm doing. Yes, it's a good thing, for the most part...

What is one thing most people wouldn't know about you?
That I was the first one to wear leggings @ my high school. And the first one to wear capris in elementary school. Kids were like "your shorts are too long, and your pants are too short." I didn't care, I was willing to take risks.

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Shy, Nice, Witty, Totally Awesome? (haha!)

What inspires you?
I have to admit, I'm a pretty trendy girl so I get inspired by the sort of things that are hot right now, but I also try to add my own lil spin on them. Looking thru countless magazines really gets my creative juices flowing.

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
Be patient! If you craft it, they will come...

Where else can we find you?
www.badonkatonkas.blogspot.com

And as a special thank you to the readers, Cailey is sponsoring a GIVEAWAY here - woohoo!!

What can you win? A fabulous little tutu for a fabulous little girl, custom-made with your color choices, or a rockin' headband of your choice from 3Sister's shop.

How to enter? Easy! Post by commenting on this blog post what you'd like to win (particular headband or tutu with colors). Simple! Visit her shop to check out what you'd like.. her crafts are great!

Extra credit, you ask? :) Of course!
For extra entries, you may do one, a few, or all of these things - but comment again for each additional entry!
1) Follow me on Twitter (@rocksmyworld) and tweet about this giveaway. Include the link to your tweet!
2) Blog about this giveaway, and leave a link to the entry.
3) Follow this blog
4) Subscribe to this blog
5) Subscribe to the newsletter - on the far sidebar

Contest ends Tuesday, March 24 at 11:59 pm EST.

Good luck! ;)

Happy St. Patrick's!

2009-03-17T09:43:00.004-04:00

I thought as a special treat I'd feature some LUCKY etsy items! (Sure could have used some of them this morning with an exam I wasn't so prepared for!) ;)

Anywho, I hand picked these items because they were super sweet, fabulous, and sure to bring you good luck.
1) Make a Wish - Wishbone Sterling Silver Necklace on 18in chain - Charmstar
2) Lucky Ladybug - bracelet with a tiny glass ladybug on cotton cord - KokiCreations
3) Lucky Lady Penny Pendant Necklace - LaPetiteFleur
4) Lucky HorseShoe Ring in Sterling Silver - TheBeadGirl

Best of luck to you all today and all year!

On a sidenote: As a 4-1/2 month unseasoned 21-year-old, I think it's my duty to drink green beer tonight. I hope to get a picture or two to post! :) Ha ha ha

While browsing some photos..

2009-03-15T16:17:00.001-04:00

I was browsing some photos I took about a week ago, since I hadn't had a chance to, and came across this photo that just kind of made me laugh.. :)

I took a stack of record bowls to a local indie shop full of all sorts of goodies (lots of glassware, pictures of musicians, hemp jewelry, tie-dye, incense.. get the picture? ;) Well, I took pictures of all the bowls I took over there just as a visual inventory (for the labels, condition, etc) and so I didn't have to write all the labels down, considering most of them didn't have artists on them. Brought a lot of my DJ albums and ones with the really cool pictures on the labels, because I figured they may fare better than Garfunkel or Barbra Streisand (although the Doobie Brothers could have done well.. ha!).
Anywho, this album made me giggle; I don't remember what was on the other side right now (I could look it up, but I'm blogging from Picasa) and I liked this side of the album enough to take a picture of it, being the bottomside. Home Style Cooking. I wish I could have gotten this pictured with my red and white polkadotted apron, my lobster claw oven mitt, something "Suzie Homemaker". Haha!

Oh well. Plus, this picture made me smile because there's actually sunshine and blue skies. It's be raining here for 3 days.. I haven't seen the sun since Thursday! Tired of the dreary, sad weather. Hopefully it will clear up and get warm soon!

Have a happy, relaxing, and fulfilling Sunday!

Easy Baked Ziti

2009-03-14T17:19:00.002-04:00

I've been on a recipe obsession lately, and thought I'd share my DELICIOUS dinner with you from last night. I (and my boyfriend) enjoyed it so much, and it was pretty inexpensive too!

I'm not exactly sure where I got this recipe, but THANK YOU to wherever/whoever I got it from. It's great!

Easy Baked Ziti

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (I used 1/2 lb)
8 oz ziti (I used penne pasta)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
7oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
1-1/2 cups mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp parsley
1/2 onion, chopped (didn't have any fresh onion, so I used dehydrated minced onion)

Cook pasta according to package directions. In skillet, cook beef, onion, and garlic until done. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix egg, ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, parmesan, and parsley. Drain beef and add sauce. Preheat oven to 350. In casserole dish, spoon in spaghetti meat sauce. Top with 1/2 of pasta. Top with cheese mixture. Top with 1/2 of pasta. Add remaining cheese to top. Cover and bake 40 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes.

I cooked a full 16oz box of pasta before I realized "Wait.. all this pasta will mean there won't be enough cheese/sauce!" so I have leftover plain pasta that I don't know what to do with yet, and a half carton of ricotta cheese as well. hm.

Anywho, it was very tasty! I whipped up some garlic bread as well on some hoagie-like rolls that were marked down in the bakery at the grocery store, and they went great with the noodles!
Ham was on sale at the store this week, so I've got 4 lbs of this delicious ham that's already cooked and delicious.. I just want to snack on it all day!

Sorry I don't have pictures of the ziti, but it is delicious and we still have half of it as leftovers for dinner tonight.. :)

Enjoy!

Sorry for being away..

2009-03-13T23:02:00.002-04:00

Promise I haven't forgotten about you all.. this week's been kind of weird. Good, but weird!
Came home to my parents' last Friday (I was on spring break this week) and went to a fish fry and had "All I Could Eat Boiled Shrimp", which was pretty good. Couldn't eat a whole lot, though! (still getting the taste for it..) Wish I could have gotten some pics of those plates full of shrimp.. and my face in disgust when I saw they still had their FEET!!

Went yard-saling with my mom and sister on Saturday and we got a bunch of baby stuff for my sister.. she gets to find out the sex next week! Can't wait!

Hit the Museum of Life and Science on Sunday with Summer (and got some pretty funny pictures.. haha!)

Got to pretend to be a model on Monday for a photographer in town, working on his senior portraits - he's a great photographer and has a studio and everything, just had some ideas and a lot of his work with that is outdated (says he).. his wedding photos are pretty fab! He posted 45 of the pictures today and I get to pick out my favorite 10 that he'll print for me as 8x10s. I also get a cd of the pictures with a permission for them to be printed. And it was fun!

My mom, sister, and I have been craigslist junkies this week! With my sister expecting, she's been shopping for baby stuff second hand. That CPSIA law that went into effect is really taking a toll and has been very noticeable in the thrift stores here! No kid/baby stuff being sold anywhere anymore.. it's really sad. I wonder where all of that is going now.. I hope it's not the dump, but I imageine that's where a lot has gone, unfortunately.

I got to see Modest Mouse play on Wednesday with some of my friends.. Summer and I used to listen to that band all of the time in high school.. I never thought I'd actually get to see them live! So that's pretty cool. :)

I made THREE sales on etsy last weekend as soon as I got home, I was a bit surprised, considering one of them was the biggest non-custom/wholesale order I've ever had! Woohoo! So I got back to town yesterday so I could ship those out. I hope they get them super quick with Priority Mail.

Well, enough rambling for me.. back to the ACC Tournament!

Picnik rocks!

2009-03-05T10:38:00.004-05:00

Sorry I've been off on a photography tangent for the last few days.. it's really had me rethinking hobbies! ;)
I have wanted a dSLR camera for a super long time now, and I wish so badly I could pull the trigger and get one.
Unfortunately, I have no job and just don't have the money. So over spring break, I'm going to 'borrow' my dad's! hahaha, just kidding. But really! I'll carry it around with me while I'm home - how unfortunate would it be to accidentally fall in my car and have to take it back to greenville! :O)

Anywho, if you haven't tried out picnik, it's pretty awesome! I won a year's subscription to it on Monday at the I♥Faces twitter party (in case you were wondering why I tweeted so much!) So I've been playing around this morning in between classes instead of working on important things, like homework. Ha!

Original:

Picnik'd:

This is a picture of Michale and I from my sister's wedding reception 2 weeks ago (ALREADY?!).. Slow dancing to Righteous Brothers, I'm sure, and it was just a very dark, drab photo. Great in theory, just the colors were way off.
So I brightened and lightened things up, and then went overboard and all out on it. :O)

It's a really fun site, and there's all SORTS of things you can do (even without having to sign up at all!).. so I totally recommend it! :)

(I know, I know, I owe you all another feature! I missed it yesterday!)

I ♥ Faces

2009-03-03T07:37:00.001-05:00

Have you heard of this blog I ♥ Faces? It's a really cool blog that you can get a TON of photography and picture-editing tips and techniques from.. I love it! It has definitely re-sparked my love of photography and it's gotten me started using photoshop. Granted, I still don't know what I'm doing, but it sure is interesting!

This week's "challenge" is Messy Face.

I took this picture on the 21st, the day after my sister got married. We had a huge catered BBQ lunch for all the family from out of state that came to town (there were a lot!) and the groom's family came over as well. This is my 3-year old nephew, CJ, after lunch with his cupcake. He makes such a mess! This was after a few cleanups.. but he had frosting all over his face and had real sticky kisses! :)

There's a button over on the sidebar to visit I ♥ Faces anytime, or you can click this link here to check out the site.

Have a fabulous day!

It's March!

2009-03-02T12:39:00.003-05:00

Happy Monday, everyone!
Last week was busy with 4 home basketball games, of which I attended them all (I'm in the pep band!), and it was a lot of fun! Saturday's two games ended the basketball season and we unfortunately lost them both, but they were both great games full of energy!

I managed to get a picture with Pee Dee :)

If you remember, I made a post a few months back about Pee Dee's transformation - ECU upgraded our mascot in time for the end of football season. Pretty drastic change and the students were pretty outraged, but I really like the new look now!

The last picture I got with him (When I was in Tulsa for the C-USA football championship game), his skin was hot pink and he had the purple hat and coat. Well they've adjusted a few times, including changing his skin to a more neutral, healthy color.. he looked like he had a mean sunburn before! ;) This get-up is his 'dressed down' look that he wears at the basketball games - no coat and has a scarf on his head. Pretty cool!

In other news, we had some snow dusting today.. back home (only 80 miles away) has about 3 inches, and past that some places have a TON of snow from that system! My mom said everything's covered and white. I hope my nephew gets a chance to play outside today! :)

Well, that's all for now. Just a fun little post to start off the week. Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Mid-Week Feature #5

2009-02-25T13:15:00.000-05:00

Well hey there! Here's another "episode" of our Mid-Week artist feature! ;)

Today's artist is Shannon of Charlotte, NC (just down the road from me)! Shannon is etsy seller MusetteMade, who gets a lovely and fantastic feature today.. just like her shop! Aren't her pieces beautiful?
Here's what she had to say during her interview!

What is your craft?
I am a jewelry designer. I also paint but my focus for a while now has been jewelry!

How long have you been crafting?
Forever! Seriously, as long as I can remember...

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
I work in an art gallery - Beet Functional Art - here in Charlotte. So I am always doing stuff involving art and artists. I get together regularly with a couple of girlfriends for "art night" and I love hanging out with my boyfriend, Joe. We watch lots of movies, cook, and hang with friends.

What is your favorite part of what you create?
I love to hole up in my studio, listen to music, and just get in that creative zone! That is the most fun part of my job but it can also be the most frustrating!

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
Nope -I love the endless possibilities! Maybe I would wish for extra hands but I'm not sure that counts!

What is one thing most people wouldn't know about you?
I am actually pretty introverted and have to work super hard to be outgoing and network/promote myself.

Describe yourself in 5 words.
I am a - sassy artsy creative catloving goofball! (is catloving one word??)

What inspires you?
I am so inspired by other artists who are out there just doing what they do. I love looking at all kinds of art and find many things about it that inspires me. I also draw lots of inspiration from my beads. Just sitting and looking at them often sparks new ideas!

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
I know everyone says this, but make what you love, not just what you think will sell. If you love it, chances are others out there will too. It is just a matter of finding them and putting your work in their path!

Where else can we find you?
Twitter
Flickr

As always, there is a surprise for you all (So I guess it's not so much of a surprise anymore!).. Shannon would like to extend a 20% off sale for you all! Make sure to include "VRMW20" in Notes to Seller at checkout for this discount, and Shannon will refund the difference or send you a new invoice after you make your purchase.

AND MORE!

Up for grabs as a giveaway item, Shannon is offering this beautiful copper bangle bracelet to a lucky winner here on VRMW!

Here's how to win!
1) Post a comment here on this post with what item you love best from Shannon's etsy shop.
Be sure to include an email address or etsy name for me to contact you by if you win!
2) Blog about this giveaway and comment with the address to it.
3) Twitter about this comment and include your twitter address to let me find it.
4) Follow my blog and comment here about it.
5) Subscribe to this blog and comment letting me know you did.

Simple enough!
This giveaway and Shannon's 20% off coupon ends Tuesday, March 3rd at 11:59pm EST.

The wedding was a blast!

2009-02-24T10:18:00.004-05:00

The wedding was perfect! I don't know how it was pulled off in only 28 DAYS, but it was amazing. I am so happy for Lisa and Jason, and wish them only the best with love and happiness all their lives! It's going to be hard for me to beat that wedding, I tell you what! ;) So I don't think I will.. but I'll sure give it a shot when it's my turn! hahahaha

Here's some pictures from Friday. Not all excellent (I didn't take them.. they were between my dad and whoever he passed the camera off to all evening!) but you can get the idea of how happy everyone was.
REALLY.. really really awesome. She deserves the best!

Okay, this is me. But the flowers were so beautiful and that red dress was so hot! ;)

This is my family, plus the marry-ins and "prospectives".. :)

Chicken Dance! Lisa got to be the center of attention all night. Rock out, sister!

All my love,

Wedding Feature Part 4: Something Blue

2009-02-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and now something blue!

This wedding cake topper from mykonos is super cute and sweet.. featuring little felted doggies dressed up as a bride and groom! "Her" dress is polka-dotted blue, and the base has a blue grosgrain ribbon with white lace adorning it.

And I thought that was fitting as a close of this week's celebration.. the cake topper!

I'm sorry this post was so late! This has been a crazy week, and yesterday was busier than I thought.. but my sister got married and everything went perfectly! The ceremony was great, the priest (the state's Knights of Columbus chaplain) told some funny stories and it was very good.. I cried like a baby when my sister came down the aisle!

I'll have to post more about it later once I have some pictures to show! :O)

Now it's time for some barbeque lunch - we got a huge catered meal and it was just delivered to the house.. just waiting for everyone to get here!

xoxo,

Wedding Feature Part 3: Something Borrowed

2009-02-19T09:14:00.000-05:00

Part 3 of this 4-day Wedding Feature's theme is: Something Borrowed

So maybe these pages were just 'borrowed' from a romance novel (to create another in a new life?). Sparklepants on Etsy created these old romance novel paper flowers, and you can get a dozen for $30. These would be beautiful incorporated into centerpieces or anything, really! Plus, they can serve as wedding gifts for your guests - meaning they may 'borrow' them for an extended time (or forever, whichever works!) ;) In any case, these flowers are simple and sweet, and really make one elegant statement.

CorkeyCreations, an Etsy seller, thought of this really interesting idea I never could have imagined - she repurposed wine corks into Custom Printed Wine Cork Place Card Holders. See, this could be borrowing too, right? Taking the corks that would be used as bottle stoppers, making them into something else.. I'm sure if you really wanted to they could be used for wine bottles again (but your wine might go badthe cork might fall in.. they've been flattened on the bottom!). Or if you're super sweet and have a friend getting married, they can borrow these from you or you can pass them on. :O) In any case, these are such a great idea, and way cute!

Wedding Feature Part 2: Something New

2009-02-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

Here for Part 2 of my 4-part wedding series, today's theme is: Something New.

This lovely print is an unframed Personalized Wedding Name Frame Print (8x20) from Etsy seller savoiefairephoto. At only $25, this is a very affordable personalized wedding gift that shows the new couple just how thoughtful you are. Registries are over-rated.. right? This would be the perfect addition to the newlywed couple to start their new life together, and to start many new memories together. How sweet!

Now when you get married, you've got a lot of adjusting to do.. including changing your return address labels! Sweetpaperie will make this custom address stamp for you however you like, for only $20. Paired with a nice stamp pad, this would be a great gift for the newlyweds if you're looking for something unique and off the registry!

Yes, today's Wednesday, and yes, it's supposed to be our mid-week feature. But I figure I'm featuring 4 days of awesome sellers, and that's pretty rad, right?!

Wedding Feature Part 1: Something Old

2009-02-17T20:09:00.001-05:00

For the first day of my 4-day wedding feature (in celebration of my sister's wedding this Friday!) I'm featuring handmade wedding items each day until then.

Today's theme: Something old

Here are some items I found on etsy that are very sweet to include in a wedding, to bring the old in with the new marriage.

This is Wedding Invitation/Reception Poster -Vintage, made by Etsy seller UnlessSomeoneLikeYou. It sells for $75, and Leslie takes the time to create this custom poster for you, in regards to the footer, the season, venue, everything! A super sweet addition to your vintage-inspired wedding, and it is something you can frame and keep for many years - great as a guestbook that your guests can sign at the reception! She even suggests sending them AS the invitation.. how cool is that?!

Now these are some more really neat vintage-inspired Punch Card Save the Date Tickets, from Etsy seller lilribbers. They are priced at $2.50 a piece and include these punch-ready tickets for when you decide your date. It's a great way to add some classy fun to your wedding, and it will definitely get your wedding guests anxious for the big day!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Wedding Feature, Part 2!

Tonight's your last chance to enter Michele's giveaway.. ends in under 4 hours! Hurry and run over to THIS POST to enter to win your favorite 5x7 print from her shop! :O)

Few updates, and Wedding time!

2009-02-16T19:15:00.000-05:00

So I am continually updating my blog to ensure it has a great presence and look about it.. I am pretty picky sometimes when I know how I want something to look! I love this clean layout, and I finally got those stinkin' navigation links at the top of my blog! (If you want to know how, check out how here. It says it's easy, but I can tell you it isn't that easy unless you're an html pro! I'm not that fluent in computer-speak, but I know enough and I had a pretty hard time!)

Changed up the header as well.. think it looks pretty nice. :O)

So as you know from me posting about it earlier, my older sister is getting married on Friday and I am super excited! I can't wait.. I am so happy for her. I am the maid of honor and learning more about weddings than I thought was possible. It's hard to plan a wedding!
Her dress is gorgeous and she looks amazing in it. Would post pictures, but it's going to be a surprise for everyone at the wedding.. !
Really anxious to see my grandma, aunts, and uncles (and some cousins from my mom's side) that are coming out.. and hoping Michale doesn't run after meeting them for the first time! Hahaha!

So I'll be featuring some wedding-related items/sellers from Etsy this week in celebration! Check that out starting tomorrow.

Until then!

Beautiful weather!

2009-02-13T15:10:00.000-05:00

So it's mid February, and we had some GORGEOUS, spring-like weather here all week! It nearly reached the 80's a few times! And when it's so nice outside, I can't help but go explore and see what I can capture with my camera. So, here are some pictures that I've taken over the past few days. All of these pictures are from around Greenville, NC and East Carolina University's campus. It is so beautiful when it's not so freezing! Some flowering trees are even starting to bloom (I know.. already?!) so there are lots of pretty pink blooms in some of the trees now. :O)

Don't forget to enter Wednesday's giveaway from Michele! Her art is so beautiful.. I wish I could win a print for myself! Ha ha ;)

Mid-Week Feature #4

2009-02-11T07:09:00.004-05:00

Today's feature is Michele Maule from Detroit, Michigan. Her etsy shop is michelemaule, and it is chock full of super sweet art that anyone can enjoy. I love the vintage feel and the great bold colors in her work.. Fab!

Here's what she had to say in her interview:

What is your craft?
I make art :)
Painting, printmaking, drawing, mixed media

How long have you been crafting?
8 years

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
I like to read, and I love watching television...
I also really like seeing old friends and drinking lots of coffee.

What is your favorite part of what you create?
I like the process of it.
Sometimes I go through several steps of a piece before its finished, and I really enjoy those steps. I also really like selling online.
I love hearing why someone buys on of my pieces.
Sometimes it's a very special gift for someone. Other times it's a small gift for themselves. I love hearing the story behind the purchase.

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
No, I don't think so.
I really like all the aspects of it.
Well, sometimes working by myself gets kinda lonely.
Hopefully this Spring I will be moving into a studio space with some other friends.
So I think that will take care of that.

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
Be patient! If you're selling on Etsy, or any other online venue, sales can be really slow at first. Don't let that get you down. Keep working at it, and promoting, and the sales will come.

As a thank you for you readers, Michele is going to give you 10% off your order for one week, so you've got until Tuesday, February 17 11:59pm EST to cash in on this. Be sure to include VRMW10 in Notes to Seller at checkout!

And if you know anything about me, I love to throw you all surprises and thank-yous for reading, so Michele has decided to offer a GIVEAWAY! (Oh, you are so lucky!)
Michele is offering a 5x7 reproduction print of your choice from her shop. Comment on this post, telling me (and her!) what your FAVORITE print is, and you'll get it if you're selected!
You've got until Tuesday, February 17th 11:59pm EST to enter. One post entry per person! Make sure there is some way I can get in contact with you if you win - an etsy username or email address will be fine. Please don't make me hunt you down!

For extra credit, you can: (extra entries in parentheses)
(1) Follow this blog
(1) Sign up for the VRMW Newsletter (on your right sidebar)
(2) Blog about this comment and link back to this post. Post the link to your entry with one of your two extra comments for this, letting me know where I can find it.
(3) Make a purchase from michelemaule, including your blogger username in the Notes to Seller (along with the discount code!)

Fine print: If you complete any of the extra credit entries, you must comment again, letting me know what you did. If you make a purchase, comment 3 extra times to receive those entries. DO NOT comment more than once if you didn't earn the extra credit! Be nice. :O)
If you are already following this blog or have already signed up for the newsletter prior to this contest, the extra credit doesn't apply, I'm sorry!
I will contact the winner within 24 hours of contest end. The winner has 48 hours to respond by Etsy convo or email. If there is no response, a new winner will be picked and the original winner is "Sorry, Outta Luck!".
Tell your friends and earn another entry! 1 extra entry if you tweet about this giveaway - send me a DM or reply letting me know you did (@rocksmyworld).
If you read this, you rock. Thanks for being such a cool cat.

To find Michele elsewhere on the web, check out these links!
http://www.how2drawacupofcoffee.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/michelemaule

Sale has been extended!

2009-02-09T22:32:00.003-05:00

That's right, I love you all so much (♥!) I'm going to extend my sale for another 100 hours! I've had a lot of fun this weekend, the weather has been perfect, and I'm in a totally great mood. :O)

The extended sale now ends this Friday, February 13th at 4pm EST.

It's BUY ONE GET ONE 1/2 OFF, plus a free gift. Make sure to include '100hoursale' in Notes to Seller at checkout to get a revised invoice or refund!

I made some fun chip and dip bowls today.. What do you think? I think they're pretty rad!

So get on that sale, it doesn't last much longer!

100?!

2009-02-05T08:00:00.005-05:00

Okay, so this isn't my 100th post (it's my 103rd!), but I got it on Tuesday and that entry and yesterday's weren't the time to celebrate. But now it is!
AND, I reached 100 sales in my shop over the weekend.
You know what this means?

I'm going to have a 100-hour sale! Yep. To thank you, my readers, and my customers for being so spectacular, wonderful, and supportive of my college fund. :O)

What's the sale, you ask?
BUY ONE GET ONE 1/2 OFF, with a free gift! How fabulous!

Make sure to put "100hoursale" in Notes To Seller at checkout and I'll send a new invoice or refund the difference.
This sale applies to ALL items in my shop, not including custom orders.
Begins NOW, and ends in 100 hours! (That makes it.. wait, I have to do the math??)

100 hours after 8am est today is MONDAY, Feb. 9th at 12pm (noon) est.

Okay, so this ends then! Jump on it!

Mid-Week Feature #3

2009-02-04T07:22:00.002-05:00

Today's Mid-Week Feature is Seann Vicente from Boulder, Colorado. What a beautiful city - I've visited a few times! (I've got a brother in that neck of the woods!) Plus, she graduated from UNC; just a short drive from where I attend school.. Small world!
Seann is the amazing artist over at StudioSRV.

Her etsy shop is full of spectacular pop art pieces, featuring your own pets and little loves in your life! As a shopper, you've got the option of getting custom pieces done or you can choose from some animal prints that are already waiting to be 'adopted'!

Here's what she had to tell us today!

What is your craft?
Pet portraits! I also do other paintings than just pets...but that is what I am focusing on right now.

How long have you been crafting?
Since before I can remember. Didn't start painting until college though , but I never took a single art class. I just loved to paint and blow steam from my stressful pre med curriculum in college!

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
I am a science geek :)

What is your favorite part of what you create?
Looking at all the cute pictures of doggies! I also really love helping people who have lost pets, they always appreciate what I create for them, and I like to know it helps them remember their lost pets.

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
hmm...well I like to paint BIG so if I could have bigger and bigger canvases I would! Maybe go back to doing mural work...

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
Just stick with it, even if you aren't selling. Do what you love and fake it till you make it!

Great advice! I didn't make a sale for a month once I came to etsy, and look where I am now - 2 years later, and I just hit 100 sales this weekend! :O)

Here's where you can check out Seann on the web!
www.StudioSRV.etsy.com
www.StudioSRV.com
Flickr
Facebook

As a reward for reading, Seann would like to extend a 10% off discount to you all for one week, starting today! Please include VRMW10 in "Notes to Seller" at checkout to receive this discount. Offer expires 2/10/09 at 11:59pm EST

She's also got another promo going on through the end of the month for Buy One, Get One 1/2 off pet portraits. Convo her for details on sizes and prices! :O)

Last day to enter!

2009-02-03T07:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the LAST DAY to enter this fabulous giveaway from Bellflower Textiles!

Head on over to THIS blog post to enter! Click away!
(Get on that, it ends at 11:59pm EST tonight!!) :O)

Sorry for the lack of blog posts this week.. Classes are kicking my butt right now, and I was busy with wedding stuff for my sister a lot this weekend! I'll post about it in a few days, I promise!

xoxo,

Special Day!

2009-01-31T13:03:00.005-05:00

Today's a pretty special day, if I may say so!
It's my boyfriend and I's 5-year anniversary! We've had more than our share of ups and downs, but I am so incredibly lucky to have him as such a huge part of my life. He is my very best friend. We are almost always together, and even in just the past few months since classes started back in August, we have become closer and closer. We have never been as happy as we are now, and things are only getting better!

I am so happy we're together, and we've made it this far. Opposites attract, and we've definitely stuck it out together through thick and thin so far! I'm so excited for what the future brings! :O)

We started dating 5 years ago, in 2004. I was still a camera freak, but I was a Sophomore in high school and didn't have a camera of my own. For that reason, I used a lot of instant cameras and polaroid film, and they aren't digitalized yet!

This was in the fall of 2005, Michale's freshman year at ECU. Jeremy and I were accepted as well and there for a visit, and couldn't wait to be students there!

My Senior Prom, Spring 2006

Michale and I, 2006

There for another visit - Missed him so much my senior year!

My freshman year, spring 2007

Atlantic Beach, Fall 2008
Banquet, New Years 2008/09

I love him, and that's as much as I can say! :O)

Mid Week Feature #2

2009-01-28T07:32:00.005-05:00

I'm going to start these Mid-week Features every single Wednesday! Some will have giveaways, some will have some awesome discounts for you (the readers!) and ALL of them will feature some really amazing handmade artists!

Today's feature is Megan from Seattle, Washington over at Bellflower Textiles.

What is your craft?
I sew hip, modern baby and toddler clothes and accessories, home decor items, and personal accessories like coffee sleeves and brooches out of bright, colorful fabric.

How long have you been crafting?
I've been a quilter for about 20 years and opened my Etsy shop in 2008.

Other than crafting, what else do you do?
I'm a stay at home mom, writer and editor, freelance grant researcher, obsessive quilter and reader, long term blogger, and all around busy person. I have a million projects going at once.

What is your favorite part about what you create?
Definitely picking fabrics and playing with colors. I love and am so inspired by all the wonderful fabrics out there! Lately I'm really in love with the great Japanese fabrics available online -- such amazing stuff.

If you could change anything about your craft, would you?
I wish I had more time to do it - most of my crafting is done during my daughter's nap (she's two) or in a really brief period in the evening when my family doesn't need me.

Any words of advice for your fellow crafters or those who may be starting up?
Make time! Even if you only have a little bit of time, doing what you love feeds your soul.

Where else can we find you?
Check out my blog at: http://growingnotes.blogspot.com
Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/megzseattle

I just love Megan's shop.. it's so much fun!

I know you're asking right now.. "How could this feature get any better, Amanda? We've got a terrific featured seller, some gorgeous photography, I'm almost on information overload!"
Okay.. brace yourselves!

Megan will be giving away one of her FABULOUS coffee/tea cozy sleeves right here on this blog!

This sweet sock monkey cozy can be yours!

Here's how you can enter this awesome giveaway!
*Post one (and only one!) comment on this post, telling me one thing you love from Megan's shop, Bellflower Textiles.

Want some extra credit? We all do! Here's how!
For one extra entry:
1) Follow me, using the little widget on the sidebar with the thumbnail pictures. You know what it is! Comment one extra time saying you did this. (Sorry, if you're already following it doesn't count!)
2) Tweet about this giveaway on your twitter account! Send me a DM or a reply message (@rocksmyworld) letting me know and post another comment on here for it.
3) Blog about this giveaway. Include a picture from Megan's shop (copy one of these pictures from here if you'd like!) and a link to this blog post. Surf back over here and post another comment, including a link to your blog post, letting me know that you did that.
If you don't have a blog, email 5 of your friends about this giveaway and send a copy to me as well. Click
here for my address.
4) For THREE extra entries, make a purchase at Megan's shop and comment here THREE times. Put "VRMW GIVEAWAY ENTRY" in Notes to Seller at checkout if you do this. I will double-check with Megan, so don't lie or I'll figure it out!

***PLEASE make sure to leave an email address, etsy username, or some way to contact you in case you win!

This giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, February 3rd. At that time (but probably in the morning once I wake up!) I'll contact the winner. If I do not get a response after 48 hours, a new winner will be picked. Once I get an address to ship to, Megan will ship it out to you within 7 days and you'll have it to enjoy!

Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another feature!

Want to be a featured seller? Fill out an application form here or you can find it on the sidebar at any time!

Big news!

2009-01-27T09:53:00.004-05:00

My sister called me yesterday afternoon with some incredible news.
She's getting married in a month!
She got her date, it's February 20th in a stunning cathedral downtown. I'm so jealous of her!

I am the maid of honor and have LOTS of work to do to help plan this out! I'm so excited and can't wait! :O)

I've been anxiously looking at bridesmaids dresses so I can try to help pick a color for the MOH dress (she's thinking red for the bridesmaids, but we haven't figured out a second color for me and the BM). I suggested pink or black, she thought maybe purple if we find the right shade to match, and my roommate suggested gold wouldn't be a bad color either! Lots of options.
Found a few dresses at Davids Bridal that look very nice.. just a matter of how they look on non-models! ;D
I'm sure once I go trying on dresses though, nothing I will have checked out before-hand will even be options.. haha!

There's lots more dresses that look great on the website, but DB looks like it's down for the count right now.. probably website maintenance. boo!

Anywho, I can't wait to go home this weekend to see what dress her and my mom picked and fell in love with for her! She called me and said it was perfect :O)

I've been tagged!

2009-01-26T13:36:00.000-05:00

So I have been tagged by Krazy Fashion AND MissCourageous to play Tag! I am listing 7 random things about myself and tagging 7 other bloggers.
Here are 7 random things about me!

1) I am on my computer absolutely and terribly too much. I probably spend more time on the computer every day than I do anything else.
2) I'm afraid to use all the beautiful scrapbooking papers, chipboards, ribbons, and everything because they're so pretty! (I probably have $200 worth of this stuff and won't ever use them because they're nice to look at)

3) I forget to feed my goldfish sometimes and it makes me feel really bad.. so I treat her a few extra times once I remember.
4) Sometimes, it breaks my heart to list items on etsy because I don't want to see them leave!
5) My parents and my siblings are my greatest heroes in their own unique ways, and I only hope I can live up to everything they dream I can be. :O)

6) I am addicted to twitter. (find the link to follow me up top!)
7) I love my houseplants as if they're my pets. Hehe!

Here's the folks I'm tagging!
Sara @ All Things Girly
Michele @ Sweet Irie
One World Organic Clothing
Tizzalicious
Michelle @ Hello, Cupcake
BeautifulBridget
Lindsey @ Brooksberrys

Want to be featured?

2009-01-25T14:32:00.001-05:00

If you haven't noticed already, I've made a great little form that you can fill out to become a featured seller here on my blog!
I would love for any of you handmade artists to fill it out and have a chance for a really great feature! :O)

Click HERE for the link to it, or you can find the link up in the header!

Project Wonderful / Animated Graphic Tutorial

2009-01-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

Today I wanted to share with you my newly found love of Project Wonderful.
It's great!
You can post ads on blogs and websites that have this gadget installed on them for little to no cost. Right on! I've got my hands on quite a few free ad spots.. it tells you tons of stats about the sites listed, too! It lets you know what size ad is allowed, whether they allow animations or not, how many views they average per day (and how many they've had that day), the lowest current adspace available, and the average cost of running an ad on that site.
Lots of fun information.. but you have to just go on in and look around to see for yourself!

So I found a great program that you can try free for 30 days (and you DON'T have to fill out that form on the landing page.. just click 'Continue'). It is Jasc Animation Pro, and you can find the demo HERE.
Once you've got the program installed and opened up, there there is the 'Animation Wizard' button in the top left corner. Click that, and it will walk you through collecting your pictures and everything.

Here, you can adjust the size (in pixels) of your ad. Let's do a 125x125 square ad.

So find your Etsy (or other online shop's) product pictures
Add your text
Play with the timing (by highlighting all of your frames, right clicking, and selecting "Frame Properties". Higher numbers will mean a slower ad)

..And you've got your own ad!

How easy was that?!

I've made quite a few of them now, including little buttons, half-banners, and non-animated ones. I'll get a good hang on it later, but I've been playing for a few days now. Love this program, though! May have to find a copy of it once the trial expires.. it's really nice to have!

Check out this snow!

2009-01-22T07:15:00.000-05:00

Well you know that snow storm in the southeast on Tuesday? It hit us! :O)
Hooray!
We haven't seen snow here in Greenville for a long time (haven't had it all season), but it snowed all day long on Tuesday, before the sun even rose. Needless to say, classes were cancelled for the past two days. Yahoo!

Here are just a few of the pictures I took from the snow on Tuesday.. Wasn't much fun out yesterday because it's all melting and there's rivers and ponds all over the place. Haha!

Went out in the snow in my pajama shorts and boots.. ha! My roommates told me I was crazy.. but it wasn't that cold out! (Until the wind started blowing!)

Then it snowed a LOT more, and we all went out to play football, take pictures, and have snowball fights.

Just about 4 inches on the ruler at that point! Snowed a little bit more after dark, but that ended up being just enough snow for us. :O)
My roommates and I (all 5 of us!) played Phase 10 most of the afternoon to stay out of the snow and ended up having a lot of fun! We made a beer run (literal: trudge) for the sheer adventure of walking around in the snow, and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a really great break!

I'll be glad to get back to classes tomorrow, though. Crazy that we had a 5-day weekend with MLK Jr. Day and the two snow days! I've only got 2 days of classes left and it's back to the weekend. Haha!

Mid Week Feature

2009-01-21T07:26:00.000-05:00

I wanted to start featuring more etsy sellers on my blog, because I love when I'm featured myself!

Today, I wanted to feature KarensSoaps, an etsy seller for 2 years now. I have been a long-time fan of her soaps, and finally got my hands on some just before Christmas! They were great stocking stuffers for mine and my boyfriend's families, and everyone really loved them! (I even kept a bar for myself!)

Karen is super friendly and has one of the best studio's I've seen! She's got a whole room in the basement for soaps, and is so organized! She let me smell tons of different scents and was very helpful when I tried to figure out what I wanted for different people.

My favorite is definitely the Green Tea and Cucumber soap.. it smells so fresh and clean!

I also got this Snozzberry soap for my sister.. We both watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so much as kids, and I knew she'd love it!

I think the next time I go back home, I'm going to try this shave soap!

So head on over to her shop.. She's got more than just bar soaps though! She also has lotions, foaming soaps, candles, tarts, lip balms, and more! Even these Conversation Heart soaps, just in time for Valentine's Day!

Hope you enjoyed the feature today!

ANOTHER feature!

2009-01-20T07:15:00.001-05:00

Maureen, over at Jeweled Rabbit is such a sweetheart! She blogged about me being blogged about at Luella Luella. Please go show her some love for me! :O)

I love the colors in her blog.. purple is my favorite!

She's got shops set up at Artfire and WiNKELF with completely different jewelry pieces at each shop.. How freakin' sweet and chic are these yellow glass bead earrings? Something about these big earwires just get me.. I love them! :O)

Click on the pictures to link you to where you should go.
Thanks again, Maureen! :O)

[UPDATE]: OH YEAH, it's snowing! Greenville's seen its first snow of the season today.. and it's coming down pretty well! We're expected to get up to 4 or 6" of snow today. Hooray!
Needless to say, classes are cancelled.
Happy snow day!

Alright!

2009-01-18T11:56:00.006-05:00

Hey readers!
Hope everyone's having a pleasant weekend.. I'm glad to have tomorrow off as well, so hopefully I'll get over round 2 of this cold before classes are back!

I was featured in TWO blogs yesterday, so please check them out and give them some love! I'm so excited about it!

TiLT Treasures

And Luella's Daily Blog
Click on the pictures to go to their respective blogs, or click on these links:
TiLT Treasures
Luella's Daily Blog

THANKS, to both of those blogs! I am so appreciative! :O)

This has also sparked me to start doing weekly features of other sellers and their items! So get ready for some of that coming up in the next week or two!

And check out my mess I've got going right now.. Haha!
I like to take up as much room as possible. Ha!
I'm pretty excited about these goodies.. Not sure when I'll have them up in the shop though! It's supposed to be cold and rainy/snowy for the next few days.
Wait.. SNOW?!
It hasn't snowed here all winter!
I will definitely keep you all updated on whether that happens or not.. I'll be a little disappointed if the weather channel's lied to me! :)

Enjoy your holiday tomorrow! (And please don't forget to comment on my last post with your listing suggestions for my offering gift sets! I appreciate it tons!)

Sale!

2009-01-17T17:47:00.003-05:00

Tonight Only!

It's a Saturday Night Special sale, going on in my shop right now. And just in time! I've just listed a whole slew of new items today.. including some BOMB mail organizers! Brand new, hot off the heat.

As you can see, the good pictures have got gift sets pictured with them.

My question is, how do I market this?!

I want to do $5 extra to anything (mail organizer or record bowl) for the bird notebook/stickynotes/flower pen or chandelier notebook/4 notecards with envelopes/flower pen, and $10 extra for a record album notebook/flower pen.

Should I create seperate listings for this and say "Add this to any order to make it a gift set"?
My question about that is, how do I do that with the record album notebooks, since they are already listed for sale.
Agh.

Anywho.. SALE!
Buy ONE, Get ONE 1/2 off! Make sure to put "SNS" in notes to seller at checkout and you can wait for a revised invoice or I will refund the difference.

Please leave comments with your suggestions! :O)

To the rescue

2009-01-16T09:20:00.001-05:00

It's the little things in life, really. They make me so happy.

I'm sick again.. just got healthy on sunday from being sick for a week, and now I've got something different! Came home from a verrry late pep band practice last night and grabbed a huge mug and made this tea. It's my favorite. Always cheers me up!

I didn't used to like tea until I went to Colorado this summer (for the second time) when my Mom, brother, sister, and I toured the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder. They gave us tea packets as our tickets for the tour, and had a full tea bar with every tea they make.. And they'll make a full cup for you (or as many as you'd like, to your heart's content)! And the best part about it all? Everything is free. Tour, tea for there, and tea for home.
There's even a huge gift shop and a restaurant there for you to enjoy. I did manage to spend a bit of money in their gift shop though, so they definitely got their money back.. haha!

Anywho, I discovered their Mandarin Orchard Green Tea (decaffienated) while I was there. Amazing! It's so yummy, and tastes great with a bit of sugar, or if you're feeling extra special, get a little honey in there. It's also great warm or iced, but I like it better warm.

Yeah, this is a HUGE mug. Doesn't have anything saying how much it holds, but my wild guess is something like 32 oz. Way cute mug, right? The continents are made of fingerprints. :O)

Treasury!

2009-01-15T09:54:00.003-05:00

No, I still haven't snagged one yet, but I found myself in one today! "I Wish I Was A French Cat!"

It's very cute, full of frenchy-themed items! I love the oranges and greys.. didn't realize how nicely they complement each other!
It's up for two more days, but if you catch it by then, here's the link!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=39532

Have a fabulous day! :O)

Hey! It's Tuesday!

2009-01-13T09:47:00.002-05:00

Hey guys, it's been a few days!
Well, my semester started back up on Friday and I've been going crazy about new classes starting. It's a good and bad time of the year, because the classes aren't so hard yet, but I freak out about spending so much money on books and start getting anxiety about how ridiculous my calendar looks after the first day of class. I'm taking SEVEN classes this semester.. a feat that I have never done yet. Oh boy.
I've got a couple interesting classes.. I'm just praying that I'll stick with accounting after this semester. I'm tired of changing my major and I would love to be an accountant. Just hope I understand it and can get through it all!

So I went to the bookstore to get my textbooks yesterday, with my $500-limit credit card. Have rarely gone over that amount for textbooks, but let me tell you.
I bought 4 books and spent $495.57!! *faints*
I still haven't bought my yoga mat and "Skinny Bitch" that I have to read for my exercise class, a Finance textbook, a code to do/turn in my homework online, and a financial calculator.

ugh.

College is ridiculous sometimes.
You pay a ridiculous amount of money for tuition, and it is always going up.
THEN they squeeze as much more money as they can out of you for textbooks. It would make so much sense if we could rent them. Half of students don't use them anyway!
Maybe I should hang onto my books and start renting them out when I'm done.. :P
Oh yeah, and they don't even buy books back for more than 1/4 what you paid.. if that!

ugh.
Thank goodness I should (hopefully) only have 2 semesters left! :O) That is, unless I go to grad school. Yike!

Okay, so sorry that was that long! Just get a little angry about the way that universities are run here.

I'm working on a custom order for someone on etsy once I get home today, and can't wait to post pictures! It's something completely different from what I've been making! :O)

Have a wonderful Tuesday.. "Hump Day" is almost here, and then it's the weekend!

Fun virtual collage site

2009-01-10T09:07:00.000-05:00

Hey all! So I found this really fun site the other day online. Maybe it wasn't through the best reviews, but it's fun, nonetheless!

It's called POLYVORE. It's a virtual collage site. Pretty nifty, right?
Check out what I put together, using images already on there.
So, you're wondering how I found it, right?
Well.. I was forum searching on Etsy and found a thread talking about this site. Users can steal images from anyone and anywhere online, and use them on this site. Given, most of the images are credited with their website, creator, and selling information. But there was no 'asking permission' to use the images. So.. it's good and bad I guess.

Thought it was fun when I tried it, though!
I've seen bloggers use this to put together outfits, like seen above, and there's all the information listed with the "set" of where everything can be found and how much it costs (like a magazine ad in Seventeen or Cosmo!)

So go play there if you'd like! If you're worried some of your photos may be on there, you can do a search for your username or the item name (if you think that'd bring it up). I couldn't find myself on there, but others on Etsy have. If it's got the proper credit and everything, I don't see why it's not just extra promotion (for the most part) :O)
However, if you DO find your images on the site and want them removed, they're really good about it! Check out their Copyight Help page HERE.

Happy creating, if you choose!

I'm back!

2009-01-08T10:36:00.001-05:00

Happy 2009!!

Lots has happened since I posted last:

I'm back from Memphis and had an AMAZING time!

My 2nd nephew was born during the Liberty Bowl (January 2nd) and I went to the hospital to see him as soon as I got back from the trip

I'm back in my apartment, about to start classes TOMORROW! (ughhh)

So, without further ado, here's some pictures! (I know that's what people look for!)

No, I didn't drink that gigantic drink on the left! I wanted a photo op with it because it was 100 oz of mixed drink.. and ridiculous! It was nearly as tall as me! But yes, those "Big Ass Beers" were mine. :O)

That's my Saxophone line, all the way down! Our motto for the season? "We LOVE Group Sax!"

My sister, Lisa, holding our sister-in-law's new baby in the hospital! CJ is a big brother now! :O)
More big news? LISA is expecting!! She's due in mid-August, and I cannot WAIT! :D

His name is Michael Andrew.. Cutiepie, isn't he?! We were getting ready to leave and we put him down.. then he finally opened his eyes up and just seemed to look at me and smile. :O) Heart is melting!

Look at those little piggies!

So that's my mini photo blog to start off the year.. it's been so much fun! Classes start tomorrow, but I only have 1.. woohoo!
Monday I start YOGA! I'm so excited. :O)

New Year's resolution? I'm going to start going to the gym so I can get in shape! I'm tired of people telling me that I'm 'fine' and 'have a nice figure', when I keep going up in pant sizes and can't feel comfortable in a tank top! I've got to get my tummy in control here! I think Mike's got the same thought going on for him, so I should have a gym buddy, unless he's too busy with his internship and classes!

Lots of love, happy new year!

Going on a trip!

2008-12-30T20:28:00.003-05:00

Just letting you all know I will be away for a few days.. I'm leaving for Memphis, TN tonight (very soon, actually! The buses leave in an hour and a half!) The marching band is driving there, and we'll arrive someone tomorrow afternoon. Then we change and get ready to perform on Beale Street and then we're having our band banquet.. where I have to give out awards to my section!
I'm not so ready for that.. but what I've put together is pretty darn cute!
I'll try to post a picture of them, but it may not be until I'm back.

Anyway, check us out on ESPN on Friday at 5pm EST.. Go Pirates! BEAT KENTUCKY! ;D

Check out my twitter feed and follow along with me on my trip! I'll post a few updates and pictures while I'm gone from my phone. :O)

Happy New Year!

I'm here!

2008-12-28T00:01:00.003-05:00

Just been a bit slack lately on posting blog entries and listing new items on my etsy page. I've been at home for a week and a half, and I just get so lazy when I'm here. It's so easy to do nothing all day because there's nobody around to get me up and out! Roommates and boyfriend are all doing their own thing and not around to say 'hey let's go out!'
Hahaha
It's good and bad, but I've got to get out of here tomorrow.. going to go on some adventure or something. Have to! (My favorite thrift store is having their 1/2 off everything sale tomorrow, so you know I'll be there for that!)

So I talked about having gotten my hair cut last week and promised a picture.. and here it is! I like it. It's nice, and it's about the same cut I had about this time last year (but it was dyed brown), but I just wasn't expecting to have my hair all cut off again. Was hoping for it to stay a bit longer for a little while!

And that necklace right there is somethin special, too! My boyfriend got it for me for Christmas.. we've been dating almost 5 YEARS now, and I love him more and more every day! This is the first piece of jewelry he's bought me, and I love love love it! It's silver and has 6 diamonds in there.. gorgeous! I love it and I am so happy!

I'm very much ready to go to Memphis next week for the Liberty Bowl.. We're having our band banquet on New Years Eve in the hotel, and I have to think up some awards to give to a few people in my section! Yike! That means I have to think of some things to give to them as well.. hm. I'll think about that later.. as in last minute!

Should really think about listing some more stuff in my etsy shop.. I heard sales may pick back up a little bit from shoppers with Christmas money! That would be great.. I haven't hardly made but 1 sale in the past 2 weeks! :(

Just a quick post

2008-12-25T01:36:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post here to wish you all a WONDERFUL Merry Christmas! :O)
I'm finally done with as much as I'll get done tonight. I had a really long day.. a lot of bad things. :(
Worked for 9 meaningless hours, took a nap, got a call that a good friend got in a pretty bad go-kart stunt (but boyfriend visited him in the hospital, says he's fine and nothing's broken, but his face looks pretty bad from hitting the cement).

As for the traffic and people that are out and about during the last few days before Christmas.. I say if you're going to be a sourpuss or stink at driving, please.. STAY HOME. I don't want you out ruining my holiday!

With that being said, it's time to turn in. Early morning for some french toast (the only day of the year we make it!). My brother and dad are having a cook-off to see who'll make the best french toast this year.. I'm excited! But I'm going to have to pull for my dad, seeing as he's the one paying for my college tuition!

I've been real slow on listing new bowls lately.. it's because I've been at home and I have other things to do (like beat Cake Mania! Which I did in just a few days. hehe)

MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy Holidays!

A little bugged..

2008-12-23T23:15:00.003-05:00

But I'm not letting it ruin my mood too much.
Met up with an awesome etsier today for some great Christmas gifts (really excited!) and I know I'll enjoy what I got for myself thoroughly. I'll post specifically what they are after Christmas so I don't rein any surprises :O)
But she asked me if I was selling at a particular arsty consignment shop that's fairly new in town and apparently pretty cool. And I immediately recognized the name because of something that happened over the past month and a half.

See, my mom is a big crafter too (and so is my sister) and they do a handful of shows over the holiday season because they're pretty popular here. Anywho, they'll take my record bowls with them sometimes when I've left some at home, and they did this. I made about 150-200 in sales for not even having been there.. so that's cool. But someone stopped by the booth at one of the shows and talked to my sister and was really excited and wanted to sell my bowls and her guitar pick earrings at their crafty hipster consignment shop. A few weeks later, they were still talking to my sister and told her "Oh, well we found out how to make the bowls ourselves. We still want your earrings." and were generally pretty rude.
She was not supportive of them saying this/doing this if they're supposed to be crafter-friendly and everything. And that's not cool at all with me.

And apparently they've got my bowls (just not made by me) for sale in their shop now.

That blows. :(

Imitation may be the greatest form of flattery, but when it's copycatting my specific craft, that really stinks because I'm losing sales and my artistic edge.

Oh well.. there isn't anything I can do anyway, right? Just a crumby situation.

And another seller on etsy has started selling record bowls in their shop that are, unfortunately, extremely similar to mine! :(

So this weekend hasn't been so great. But hopefully spending time with my family and my boyfriend and his family will make me forget all about this. And hopefully sales will pick back up some after Christmas.. I hate that I feel like I just dropped off the map.

MORE new business cards!

2008-12-22T00:38:00.002-05:00

I got new business cards in the mail from overnightprints.com yesterday! Oh boy!
They're super cute and actually show pictures of what I make, so people who pick them up will know/remember what it is I actually make. The others were adorable, but aren't depictive of what it is I do or make.

I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. I'm overdue on a few pics for you all! Being at home is just a little hectic.. I've done nothing and I've done everything, and my internal clock is totally off. I've been staying up way late and waking up entirely too late. Oy. Getting back into the groove of things in a few weeks for school is going to be really hard!

Christmas spirit?

2008-12-20T11:00:00.001-05:00

Booboo.. I didn't win the shopping spree. I got $5 off though! heh.
Got a lot of clothes and a ton of great deals. Even went to Belk's and got a cute skirt marked down to $5 from $44! :O)
So Merry Christmas to me! That's 6:45am wakeup was a little extreme.. finally home from shopping and making some breakfast.
Must go out later and shop for OTHER people!

Deal Alert!

2008-12-19T23:07:00.003-05:00

So I got my hair cut yesterday! The mullet is finally gone, and my hair is short like it was about this time last year.. It's fine, but I just really want to dye it back brown now!
Didn't get a chance to take good pics yet of the tree (or my hair), but I promise I'll have 'em up before Christmas! :O)

So I just wanted to let you in on a GREAT deal alert.. I checked out my Old Navy ad today, and they're having a really great $6 sale! Tons of items (like scarves, shirts, ties, hats, gloves, slippers, pj pants, and more) for just 6 dollars. What a deal! And tomorrow they're giving out a $500 shopping spree to one of the first 200 shoppers in each store! If you don't win that and you're in the first 200, you can win a 5 or $10 coupon or free denim. Woohoo!
You bet I'll be there! I'm going to win that shopping spree! ;D

Make sure to check your local ad for Old Navy, because it may differ from location. But it should be game on for ya!

Did a little online shopping for gifts today.. Michale's about covered now! Just have a few more people to shop for, and I really really really want to get it done before Monday, because that's when I start picking up shifts at work.

Hope you have a happy weekend, and if you're being affected by all this snow I hope you stay warm! :O)

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-18T13:00:00.002-05:00

Sorry I missed blogging on Tuesday.. I forgot to mention it yesterday. My computer was having a bit of a meltdown from all of the Cake Mania 3 I've been playing, and it was taking it's toll. I got some sort of virus on there, but after a few hours of reassuring it, it was okay. :O)
Then I had to pack up half my life so I could come home for the holidays!
So now I'm back home at my parents house until the beginning of January, and I'm pretty happy about it. Missing Greenville and the fact that everything is much less crazy and busy over there.. Raleigh is NUTS this time of year, and I forgot about it!

I'm finally getting my hair fixed this afternoon.. I got it cut right before Thanksgiving (I forgot if I wrote about it on here or not) but the lady at Great Clips gave me a mullet. Bad, bad, bad. That's what I get for paying $10 for a haircut. :\ So I'm getting it done at a salon today, and I have no idea what they're going to do to fix it, but I'm sure they're going to cut it all off. :( Bye bye length! (Hello.. bob?)

Hoping to get another nice chunk of Christmas shopping done today. My bank account is not pleased with me this month! It's okay.. tis the season, right? :O)

Happy Thursday.. only ONE MORE WEEK! And you know what? We finally got our Christmas tree up last night. So we can enjoy it for a week or two. :P Pictures later!

Wow-ee! Wednesday

2008-12-17T08:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, so anyone who knows me knows that I have a strange obsession for some of the weirdest scents. Previously, I've been hooked on celery and thought that would be the greatest soap or candle scent ever. The current one I'm on is laundry. Laundry-scented anything. I love it! My favorites right now are Glade's "Clean Linen" and Yankee Candle's "Egyptian Cotton".
So that's today's theme. Laundry! :O)

(a) Clean Laundry Soap Bar, by Simplyscents. Not for the laundry, but for the bod! Oh, I can only imagine how amazing this smells!
(b) Green on Green Ironing Board Cover, by Bleuview. Super sweet ironing board cover to jazz up your current boring board.
(c) Family Wash watercolor print, by WendyandPeterPan. This would be such a wonderful addition to brighten up your laundry room area.
(d) Funky Floral Altered Clothespin Clips, by Stellabean. Okay, so maybe you won't want to hang up your laundry with these, because it would be a shame for these beauties to get damaged! But you could put up your own clothesline with string in your house and hang undies or pictures with them as art. :O)
(e) Natural Laundry Soap, by ShowerTreatSoap. Who thought you could make your own laundry detergent? Well, I couldn't so easily.. but this sounds delightful!

Hope you enjoyed today's theme! I know I had a lot of fun picking out items!

"Make it Easy" Monday

2008-12-15T12:01:00.003-05:00

So today, I wanted to share a recipe with you that I just love! It's Chicken Cacciatore and it's super easy. I admit, it's from Prego, but it's amazing and wanted to let you all in on it too!

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

What you need:
1 pound of frozen/raw chicken breast
1 can/jar of pasta sauce (my favorite is Kroger brand Parmesan & Romano!)
1 box of pasta (rotini or penne are great for this)
Shredded cheese (optional)

Cut your chicken up in cubes once it's defrosted (if it was frozen). Cook over medium heat in a skillet with a bit of vegetable oil until it's cooked (it turns white). When it's ready, put the sauce in with it to heat it up to join with the pasta.

As you're cooking the chicken, boil your water and cook the pasta. Drain, and add the chicken and sauce. Add shredded cheese, to taste.

My boyfriend and I are HUGE on cheese, so we always add cheese to everything. Our favorite way to get the melted cheese in no time is put shredded cheese in the bottom of the bowl you're serving in or eating out of, add your hot food on top, and it will melt underneath! Then you can stir it all up and you've got the stringy cheese in there! :O)

Well that's that.. it's quick and easy and can serve 4. Would be great with green beans or steamed broccoli.

Yum!

That mess I was talking about..

2008-12-15T00:14:00.002-05:00

Here's that mess. :O)
More have been added since, and I hope none of my roommates wake up super early tomorrow to that.. because they may be a little upset there's nowhere to eat!
This doesn't picture the bar counter that's covered, as well.. or another stack of bowls waiting to be sealed.

Haha
Early morning tomorrow.. by the time I blog next, I should be an official College of Business student at my university! :O) Yay!

In the zone!

2008-12-14T23:26:00.002-05:00

Sorry I've been so late with the blog posts every day! Been kind of lazy in the day and busy at night.. haha! Don't ask.. I've reverted back to my summer/winter college student tendencies.. it's typical. :P
Got a little more Christmas shopping done today.. but more importantly my parents came to town for a surprise visit! They were at the beach for a meeting this weekend and decided to pop over for lunch today on the way home. It was very nice.. and they called right after I cooked a huuuge breakfast! (eggs, bacon, homemade hash browns, and apple cinnamon muffins!)
And EVERYTHING came out on time.. wahoo! I'm getting so good at cooking this semester. Thank goodness for finally getting to live in an apartment! But I know as soon as I get home I won't be doing a lot of cooking.. partly because I'm afraid of my parents new kitchen.. it's so nice!

Anywho.. I've got a huge production line going on right now.. I'm making bowls and sealing a ton and have almost covered every counter/table space in the kitchen.. at that point I think I'll have to stop! Hahaha

I'll try to post a picture if it comes out alright.. :P

Tomorrow's monday.. hope you're getting all of your online shopping done SOON! I'm getting a few things off Amazon.com and the deadline for christmas eve arrival date is in 4 days!

Saturday

2008-12-13T23:55:00.003-05:00

Not much to blog about today.. except I made and sealed over 20 bowls yesterday and took product pictures today.. hooray!
So I'll be adding a lot of new stock this week.. and not just record bowls! :O)

Watching movies and crafting this evening.. enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll catch up with you tomorrow!

Happy day!

2008-12-12T17:53:00.003-05:00

So today was a great day! It's been hard being productive this week because I'm finally DONE with the semester and I don't want to do anything. That, and Mike and I have been able to just spend a lot of time together since we're both much less stressed about things.
But today I got out and did a lot of things. :O)
Been to the post office 4 of the 5 days it's open this week, and shipped 2-4 packages per day. Yay!
Went today after making another JOURNAL! (speaking of, I did redo the pics for the Alabama album, and they look much better than the originals I had.) This time, it's The Eagles' Greatest Hits. I loved that CD in high school.. it was one of the only albums I kept in my CD player all junior year!

Then I finally got out and went christmas shopping.. I would love to splurge about everything I got for people, but I know a few of them keep tabs on this and that wouldn't be much of a surprise come christmas!

And the best thing about Christmas shopping was I came home to 4 sales! :D

Realized this evening that I'm verrrry close to 100 sales on Etsy! So my 100th will have an extra special surprise when they receive their order. :O)

And okay, did I mention how much I LOVE last.fm last night?? Listening to the radio again and I love it! I think it takes info from songs you have/recently played and plays songs that it thinks you'd like. I've like every song since last night (about 5 hours' worth!)

Ahh.. even better than itunes shuffle, because it's songs that I haven't heard before.

Happy day. Have an AMAZING weekend!

Play the music

2008-12-11T23:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was such an awful day.
Accident-ridden all over the place!
To start off the day, I fell out of bed trying to turn off my alarm.. now this isn't your normal fall. I was conscious and awake enough to function, but when I put my feet on the floor to stand up they didn't want anything to do with it. SO. I fall down and my legs are all sorts of contorted and I slam my elbow into the metal/wood platform frame of my bed on the way down. Feel like I cracked my elbow! Got rugburn on the top of my ankle, cuts on my knee and elbow, and just sore all over.
On top of that, I busted my lip a few days ago and I have a bruise the size of a softball on the back of my calf because I tried closing the car door on my leg.
I couldn't take two steps yesterday without running into something, tripping, bumping, or touching anything.
It was a little ridiculous.

I did make a high B on my exam in the morning though, and it was the last of this semester that I have to touch! Hopefully my final grades will be in soon so I can get myself into the College of Business here officially. I've got to get it done before I go home for the holidays next week!

I did get into last.fm today.. It's still a little confusing, but I downloaded.. well, something from them. Whatever it is, it's cool. It just creates a personalized radio station for you and you can "love" or "ban" songs that come up (decide if you like them or not)
Pretty cool! And it loads up much quicker than itunes, atleast on my computer. :O)

Brand new look!

2008-12-10T20:10:00.004-05:00

Fresh, completely brand new layout and blog header!
How do you like it?

I'm really excited. :O)

So I just created an artfire account tonight (If you haven't heard about it, it's like Etsy but it's brand new and not very many people are on it yet.) Here's the link! It's pretty cool checking it out and maybe it'll be good to be a kind of early subscriber! Also, it has NO selling fees with it.. so we'll see if sales are any good over there! (A lot of twitterers have been raving about it!)

I also made a flower pen listing today..

(Click picture for link to listing)

I can't believe I listed it right around 12 this afternoon, and at 5 it still didn't have a single view. I was totally shocked about that!

Well, let me know what you think about my layout, artfire, my flower pens, or anything else!
Or let me know how your christmas shopping is going.. I need someone to beat some sense into me that Christmas is only 15 days away and I haven't started shopping! :O)

NEW!

2008-12-09T23:20:00.003-05:00

So today's been productive, and then again it hasn't.
I woke up at 5:30 this morning so I could study for my final at 8am.. made an 88 and finished with an A in that class! Woohoo!
Tomorrow I'll do about the same thing, but sleep in until about 7. I have an exam at 11 and it's my last for this semester. :O)

So I did what I said I would, and I listed my brand new "thing"! And you know what Lindsey? You were right!
IT'S A NOTEBOOK!

I was so excited when I saw this completed for the first time.. holy moly. I showed it to my roommates and my boyfriend and just wanted to bust out of the seams about it.
I know the pictures aren't that great, but I had a very small window of time to photograph and the lighting wasn't exactly the best.. so hopefully tomorrow it won't rain all day and I can get some better pictures in.

I was in a bit of a sour mood tonight and got on a bowl-making spree.. but a lot of them weren't turning out like I wanted so I stopped and I hope I was overanalyzing about them.. Seems I'm running low on bowls to list (though I still have a TON, I just like having different colors in the shop!)

Well, not too much else. Can't wait to be finished with exams!

finals, finals, finals.

2008-12-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

It's Monday..
I realized today that I only have 2 1/2 weeks left to christmas shop.. and BOY do I have a ton of people to shop for!
I've got an accounting exam at 8 in the morning, a meeting, another huge trip to the PO (could only carry 4 orders in there today, and I ran out of packing material, anyway!), and a meeting at 3. Then I have another final on Wednesday morning. Yike!
Good news is, if I play my cards right, I should be on the Chancellor's List (all A's) again this semester! But I just have to hope and wish reeeeal hard! There's one class I could be borderline on.. maybe two.

I can't seem to list my bowls quick enough! I try to pace myself so I still have stock on hand that I can list.. but I almost wonder if I should just have at it and post a ton of bowls! Hahaha

Oh well. I didn't get to list that surprise today.. I've been so busy with studying and working on a ton of other things! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to create a new listing (because picking out words is the hardest part!)

Hope you all enjoyed and made it through your monday without any scratches.. it will be the weekend again before you know it!

We are the champions!

2008-12-07T22:47:00.004-05:00

Pirates for the win!
We are now the Conference-USA football champions.. first conference championship in something like 32 years! WOW!
And it was so awesome to be there to see it.
What a great game, and I heard I was on national TV quite a few times! :O)

I'll have lots of pictures soon.. but here's one (the first one I took off my camera card)

That's me, lookin like a total goober (from my awful, awful hair cut I got right before thanksgiving) with PeeDee! :O) He likes to come hang out with the band and play snare.. hahaha! And at the game yesterday, the saxes were in front of the drums instead of behind (and my ears are still ringing!)

So with that win, we were immediately invited to play in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN on January 2nd.. and I'll be there! New Years with the band and my best friends is going to be so much fun, I can't even wait!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend.. I know I did! Flew at night for the first time.. it was neat to see all of the lights (and you can see christmas lights!)
I've got 2 finals this week, and then I'll just be hanging out for a little while before going home. Can't wait to see my family!

Happy weekend!

2008-12-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

We made it!
Just to let you know, this is a scheduled post (sorry if I would have fooled you!)
I am in TULSA, OKLAHOMA right now for the Conference-USA Championship Football game. (Go East Carolina Pirates!! Arrrggghhh) There's only supposed to be about 300 East Carolineans here in total.. (if that!) so we may outnumber the fans! Oh well, it should be a fun and exciting game.. and hopefully we'll win! (Check us out at 11am Central Time.. we're on ESPN2!)

Well I'm in the midst of final exams for the semester and I've been super-cramming. This week was crazy, and now I get to have a little fun before the serious exams hit on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yike!

If you've checked out the shop at all recently, you may have noticed that my sales have picked up quite a bit! I love it! It's so empowering to be so driven and busy and hard at work.. at least for now, before I drive myeslf crazy.

Something I would like to know: Have any of you finished your christmas shopping? My boyfriend says he's already done.. I've hardly even started? I feel like I'm way behind and I still have a few weeks to go!

It's friday! :O)

2008-12-05T10:51:00.002-05:00

Sooo.. I didn't make a new blog header yesterday. I played around a little bit, but I would love to use Adobe Photoshop to play some more. When I run it on my computer it likes to crash and be really slow.. so I think I'll wait and play with it on campus next week.
However, I was extremely productive yesterday! Went to the post office for the.. 3rd time this week? Shipped off another 2 boxes. (and I already have 2 more orders since then!) I went to the library to use their teaching resource center and cut up some album covers.. and I have a BIG surprise on monday! I will list one of them in my shop and I am sooo excited I almost can't keep it in! (I'll give you a hint.. it might match up with something else I make (that I need to list too!)
It's raining today anyways, so I couldn't take a picture if I wanted to. :P

Oh! I've got some exciting news! Don't know if I've posted it yet on here (officially).
I'm flying out to Oklahoma today! I'm in the marching band (of course) at East Carolina University, and the athletics department is flying us out to the conference championship game in Tulsa Oklahoma. The game is tomorrow, and I cannot wait. It's hard to believe I'll be on a plane today.. I haven't even packed!

I've been hard at work making record bowls (every day!) and I'm still not caught up! I'll be hanging around town after exams next week just to make bowls and stuff before I go home for the holidays.

Hope you have a wonderful day! See me on tv tomorrow on espn2! :O)

Desperation..

2008-12-04T09:02:00.002-05:00

I desperately need a new blog header.
I just need the time to put one together!
Maybe I'll do that today. :O) I don't want to study for exams or prepare for anything else any more this week.. I just want to relax! Haha

Hopefully I'll update later with a new banner.

Wowie Wednesday!

2008-12-03T10:34:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Wowie Wednesday!
I figured since I ripped you guys off for a few weeks by not posting a Fabby Friday feature, I'd throw some extras in before Christmas. Hope it evens it out for you! :O)

Here are some awesome items I've found on etsy recently.. I'm always favoriting new things! Maybe you'll find a few gifts for your friends, family, or coworkers?
A) BeautifulBridget: Face Scrubbies These are super cool face scrubbies. You can use them wherever you'd like, if you want to use them on your body or on the tub, or maybe even for dishes! They're so cute and she has lots of different listing for colors and even has flower-shaped ones!
B) KrazyFashion: KF Everything Wallet A pink, polka-dotted accessory that you can use every day? Favulous. I love it! It has pockets, zippers, velcro, the whole nine yards. GREAT as a christmas gift!
C) KDemARTe: Live Laugh Love Necklace What a wonderful phrase to live by.. and it's on a hand-hammered pewter necklace charm! Elegant and refined, but still rustic enough to keep you balance
D) DesignsByJinx: Candy Apple Pink Dog Collar You've got everyone on the list checked off now for gifting.. but what about the dog? Maybe she's on a diet and can't have any more treats.. This is such an adorable collar.. it makes me want to adopt a little puppy right now just so she can wear this charm. :O)
E) Jupita: Psychedelic Flowers Necklace This is a fabulous necklace.. would you guess it's made with some recycled material? How cool! These little flower parts are actually pieces of a really neat Starbucks gift card. Right on!
F) PaperPumpkin: Seedling Fabric Push Pins How cute of an idea is this? Dress up that drab, boring corkboard with some darling push pins covered in fantasically colored fabric! I think this is a great idea for a girly friend or a coworker. I wouldn't mind some of these! (I'll even buy a corkboard for myself to use them with!)

Own The Hour feature

2008-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know if you've heard about it, but there's a great new promotion website for etsy that it is really cool and gaining a lot of popularity! It's called Own The Hour, and it's kind of like a etsy mini on a website but way cooler. There are 12 spots available to "own" for "the hour". You can purchase one spot per hour, starting at 12:01 am EST the day before. Like yesterday afternoon, I bought two spots for today (12am and 9am). Spots fill up really fast, but I think it's a great tool to use if you've got some change. It costs .50 per hour, and you choose your item and hours.

This button below links to the website, and you can check it out from there!

Own The Hour also has a twitter page, for those interested. They had a promo over the weekend for black friday and cyber monday, and spots were reduced to .10!! How awesome!
Here's their Twitter page: http://twitter.com/ownthehour