Todays yard sale find for $15. I love it.

I was so moved by their flash video that I thought I would share it with people… maybe it will help spread the idea. AND, they offer bags on there for super cheap: 10 bags for $9.90. EXCELLENT! I don’t have details of what they are made of or anything, but I still like what they offer. Anyway, please go to:  www.onebagatatime.com.

I have so many frames that I am not using right now and I really needed something to keep my earrings on so I can actually see them, so I came up with this. I saw something similar on Etsy and I thought I could make my own. I bought some Wire Cloth in the gardening section at Lowe’s for about $10 (I can make 900 of these with how much of that stuff I have), and then I cut it, stapled it to the back and WHALA! An interesting feature to hang my stuff on. I also bought some little S hooks and hung a few of my pendants on there, but I could add necklaces too. These are hanging in my walk-in closet. I have a huge blister on the palm of my hand from cutting the wire cloth (not as easy as I thought), but otherwise I am truly happy and feeling quite crafty.

Found Keri Smith’s blog and FlickR today. I just loved this! I printed it and affixed it to my metal board in my office. What should I make disappear today? I’m thinking 5 pounds, the clouds in the sky that are blocking the beautiful blue sky, and dust. How about you?

As far as flowers go, I am always telling David I want them but I don’t want him to spend the money on something that ultimately dies so fast (although that doesn’t mean I don’t want them ever). Well, he surprised me before he left for his trip with a potted Calla Lily (my favorite). What can I say, the boy is a romantic when he wants to be. Sometimes he just does the sweetest things, and this was certainly one of them (and one of the smarter ideas too). Love you babe!

2. COMPUTER MEMORY. Over Thanksgiving I bought memory for my computer and installed it this weekend. We are crusing at rocking speeds with 2 Gig of memory now (although I keep getting some errors and need my sis’s help to fix).

3. THIS SITE: Papertryink.com and her blog. Her designs for cards and gifts are so cute! I totally ordered some of the scallop punches, the B&C Monogram Ed. stamps, the Spiral Bouquet stamps, and the Holiday Treats stamps! I love how she nests the images inside the scallop punches and how absolutely adorable her packages and cards are! Too perfect! And they come packaged with a cd case to store them in with a label, which is how I have been storing my stamps these days (or trying to, for the most part).

4. BOOKS. I just got the “Best of Becky Higgins Sketches” book and I love it. It has all of her sketches from her magazines and the CK magazines. She only did one example for each sketch, but they are all new examples and it totally rocks my world! Love it! Love it! Love it! I also picked up “Caffeine for the Creative Mind.” It is 250 excercises to wake up your brain and it looks cool. It has stuff like you have to make up a game for a bunch of kids and you only have this list of supplies… what would your game be. I haven’t started reading it yet, only flipped through.

5. BRAIN AGE 2 for Nintendo DS and SODUKO. David got me Brain Age 2 and it has an electronic soduko on it. I am totally addicted. I forget to eat… and sleep (I’m not kidding on this one).

6. WORK. Yes, I said work. Not that I like getting up every morning and going, per say, but I have been kicking some major butt on the ad scene and I am totally excited for what the future could hold for us. I’ve been busy, busy, busy and we have tons of stuff that will be hitting around the holiday, which sucks, but I work better under pressure.

7. ORGANIZATION. Since I moved I have been organizing crazy, especially my office/scrap room. I have been tranferring my stamps to cd cases to minimize space (as mentioned above), I got two of these storage cubes to store my papers in so they do not look so unruly on the shelf (except not all of my papers fit, but it still looks better). I also got this Clip-It-Up system to organize my stickers and embellies. It sits on my shelf and also looks much better than having the stuff laying all over the place (as which tends to happen). And not too long ago I bought a Label Maker and I have been labeling EVERYTHING… storage bins, flour and sugar, my stamps and paper, even my cat (just kidding). I love this thing and it makes me want organize and label EVERYTHING! Maybe I should use it to label people’s Christmas presents… okay, now I’m taking it a little far I think, or am I?

8. CHRISTMAS GIFTS. Almost done (but late in getting out this year). Although I still have not started my Christmas cards and they may not make it out. Some years you just can’t do it all.

9. THIS PICTURE that my aunt took of my cousin. I just love it, although it makes me want to upgrade my Rebel XT… she has the 30D which makes me drool! Someday, someday… But isn’t she just the cutest little stinker! God I miss the little kids in my family and can’t wait to see them for Christmas.

10. Last, but certainly not least (let me grab an umbrella to shield the tossed tomatoes), David and I are back together and he is moving back in with me. We are giving it one more try. He appologized and missed me terribly and he knows he made a mistake. I know this makes a lot of people cringe right now, but it makes me happy and I am willing to give him a second chance. I believe that everyone makes mistakes and deserves at least one more chance. I know this will upset a lot of people, but please try to understand that I love this person and spent 6 years with him. If I get hurt again, it is my own doing… I know this. We are handling many things differently this time around and we will be seeking counceling together for a while to help us figure things out. We both have issues that need dealing with and we are both hopeful.

I just wanted to post about what a cool apartment I live in. When I arrived 2 weeks ago, this was sitting on the island as a little welcome present. What a great idea! Inside was a bottle of water, some snacks ( a rice crispy treat, a kudos bar, crackers, and a bag of popcorn), a garbage bag, an dishwasher soap tab, an extension cord, some picture hook to hang things in the apartment, a bar of soap, a pad of paper and a pen, a “New to the Area” guide, a Checkers hockey schedule, and a free trial membership for Peak fitness. They even included a gift for my “Furry Friend” which was so sweet, except they thought I had a dog and inside was a tennis ball, some doggie biscuits, and a doggie dooty bag. Either way, it was still awesome and such a great idea! This place is truly classy and I am happy to be here. We are almost done getting organized and will post pictures as soon as we are finished. I was sick a few days this week, so we got a little behind.

I also went to the book store today and got a few self help relationship books:

• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (I shit you not, I bought it b/c it came highly reccommended by family)
• How to Heal a Broken Heart in 30 Days - A day-by-day guide to saying goodbye and getting on with your life (I fall in love HARD and don’t mend very well)
• Been There, Done That, Kept the Jewelry – turn your tarnishd dating past into a brilliant romantic future (I must admit the title made me buy it, but it is interesting)
• Calming the Anger Storm (yeah, I have a few issues there – trying to fix)

I’m also reading my Harry Potter when I get time, which isn’t much these days. And today I realized something… I need to meet my next man in Borders if David and I cannot patch things. I think I will start hanging out there on Friday and Saturday nights, sipping my coffee and reading. Hey, it’s better than a bar, right? Plus I can improve myself by reading and doing research. And I decided I need a new man checklist and it will inlude (#5 is the new one – the others were all there before and just never written down):

1. Must be intelligent
2. Must be funny
3. Good-looking wouldn’t hurt either
4. Must cook
5. MUST READ!!! (hey, it turns me on that a man would want to better himself and learn – and it is something David did not do)

I also bought a very simple journal to write in… not that I don’t want to write here, but I don’t think the f-bomb is very appropriate reading material for my family and quite frankly I want to write it every other word right now… and so, the writing journal. I’ve tried a journal before and I don’t uaully keep up on them for long, but maybe this will be different… could be a best-selling novel someday. My life is certainly dramatic enough.

And then there is this song: Beautiful Disaster by Jon Mclaughlin.

She loves her mama’s lemonade,
Hates the sounds that goodbyes make.
She prays one day she’ll find someone to need her.
She swears that there’s no difference,
Between the lies and complements.
It’s all the same if everybody leaves her.
And every magazine tells her she’s not good enough,
The pictures that she sees make her cry.
And she would change everything, everything just ask her.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,
And she needs someone to take her home.
She’s giving boys what they want, tries to act so nonchalant,
Afraid they’ll see that she’s lost her direction.
She never stays the same for long,
Assuming that she’ll get it wrong.
Perfect only in her imperfection.
She’s not a drama queen,
She doesn’t want to feel this way, only seventeen but tired
She would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,
But she just needs someone to take her home.
Cuz she’s just the way she is, but no ones told her that’s ok.
And she would change everything, everything just ask her.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,
And she would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,
But she just needs someone to take her home
And just needs someone to take her home.

Why is it that when you go through something like this, all of a sudden every song fits perfectly and makes you freaking cry! I like this one too: Better Than Me by Hinder.

And now I need to get back to work on the wedding invites…