Hello Pretty

I just snagged my first treasury!

Take a peak here!

Tomorrow I will finally post my Easter project...I promise!

Sneak Preview

As previously mentioned, I have been working on a new and important (to me) project, well trying to work on one anyway (see this post). This project has been in the works for quite a while now. It was something I wanted to start a long ago but didn't have the time to do, I still don't have the time but the desire trumped the time issue and I went for it.


After lots of research and saving the money to get started, I purchased the supplies to make my new products. Since this was a new and fresh start, I thought why not open a new shop too. It has been slow going with only being able to work while Rory is napping, but I am getting there. I forgot how much time it really takes to not only make the products but take the pictures, list them on etsy and create all of the little things like banners, avatars, business cards, packaging materials, etc. I do hope to have the shop open and fully stocked in the next week or two and that is when I will really launch it.


Until then, I will leave you with this, once announced there will be a special offer to my readers and I hope that will you help me to celebrate this exciting new venture.

Yummmmm!

I was having a craving for something a little sweet and naughty last night and since I promised TJ that I would cut back on my rather expensive chocolate addiction (3+ visits to the chocolate shop a week and I'm not talking Hershey's here. Take a peak, but be careful, you might become just as addicted), I decided to try my hand at baking my own lemon poppy seed muffins.

Now, I am not a baker, I can cook a mean meal but I just can't bake. I know, it shouldn't be that hard but for some reason I can't get it. I know, you are thinking what kind of stay at home mom can't make brownies? I'm supposed to be a June Cleaver or Donna Reed but that's just not me. I got lucky though, TJ is a great baker, in fact he is a great cook too! So he makes the brownies and I truly appreciate his baking skills for we would never have a decent dessert around here otherwise.

Back to my sweet treat, Lemon Poppyseed Muffins! I have to say they came out quite yummy and they look yummy too! Don't you think?

So I had one when they just came out of the oven, the best time to eat anything baked is when it is fresh out of the over and warm. Okay, I lied I had two.

I had another for breakfast!

And another for snack!

And another for another snack!

And now I feel really guilty cause that baby weight isn't gonna go anywhere if I keep eating these things.

I know you are wondering how I have time to take care of my baby, keep up this blog, work on my shop, clean the house and bake muffins. I must be some kind of supermom. Well, though i wish i could hold that title I can't cause my muffins came from a box. But I made them with one hand while holding my daughter in the other cause she would freak everytime I put her down (don't worry, I put her down whenever I had to open the oven. Safety first!) so that should get me some sort of supermom title...but maybe not.

A Message to Hong Kong

Dear Hong Kong,

About three weeks ago I placed two rather large orders for supplies from two of your merchants. These merchants mailed my packages over two weeks ago and provided me with the tracking numbers. That is how I know that you still have both of my packages there in Hong Kong. I would really like you to send them to me now for you have had them for far too long. I need the supplies for a very important project I am working on.

Sincerely,
Jamie

Weekly

Forest Muse for Lazy Days Dress

by LeMuse

Girls Classroom Dress by JCrew

Things and Joys Dress by Anthropologie

All Seasons Shirtdress by Anthropologie

Love Me 2 Times Fountain Dress

by Gaia Conceptions

Have a happy weekend!!!

I can’t wait for…

• Vietnamese noodle soup which I will be having for dinner tonight
• A new laptop cause I am ready to throw this one out the window
• My sister to visit for Easter
• Rory to say I love you mommy
• Brunch on Easter morning
• TJ to come home from work
• Another sunny day

Is there anything that you can’t wait for?

How Sweet!

I would like to thank Barefoot by the Sea for the giving me the Kreative Blogger Award! It was so great to hear that she enjoys reading my blog. Sometimes I wonder if I manage to keep everyone entertained with the things I share. It was so very sweet of Jessica to share her kind words and she has inspired me to keep on going!

As my responsibility in accepting this award, I pass it along to my favorite seven blogs. These bloggers are all so very creative and inspiring to me. I highly recommend taking a moment or two to enjoy them.

My Cakies

Oh Hello Friend

Givers Log

Lavender and Limes

The Blah Blah Blahg

Snarky Mommy

Creature Comforts

Reminder!!!!!!!

I just want to remind you that the Lazy Apples giveaway hosted by Emmys Boos and Rawrs is ending soon. There are so many ways that you can win. This is what I'm giving away!

The winner will recieve the mini tote and the runner up gets these super cute hairpins!

You'll get 1 entry for telling Emmy what your favorite item in my shop is.

You'll get 2 entries for following my blog! Which if you are reading this there is a good chance that you already do!

And...

You'll get 20, that's right 20 entries for purchasing something from my shop!!!!!!

She offers several more ways to get extra entries so take a look.

But hurry up cause the giveaway ends on April 8th!


Good Luck!!!

The Sweetest Hands

Oh, to think of all of the great things these lovely little hands will do!

They make me smile!


After a long weekend visiting family, TJ having to work and a cranky baby that has needed mommy by her side at all times, TJ and I are finally getting to the Easter project that we thought would be fun to do together. We started last night and will hopefully finish tonight, maybe tomorrow, but as soon as it is done, I promise to share with you all.


Happy Tuesday!

Weekly

1940's Prairie Dress from thirteeneightyfive

Vintage fan from Old Crow Farm

Sixty by Liberty of London at Target

Rolleiflex MiniDigi 

 

Sea Shell Neckwarmer by Denzi03

Smith Corona Skyriter from fishbonedeco

Three Months!!!

Oh my, Rory is three months old!!!! Well she really turned three months yesterday but I just could not get a good picture of her so really she is three months and one day. hehe!

She has learned so much over the last month it is amazing. She is so much fun! Her new (and only) favorite word is aguuuuu. Mommy and daddy think it is just adorable to watch her try and talk, though sometimes she tries so hard and nothing comes out and I actually feel really bad for her. She is such a happy little girl and every moment is truly a joy. She loves her toys and has started to put everything she gets her hands on into her mouth including her hand...the whole darn thing. She hasn't rolled over yet but she is so close. The best part is when she first sees me each morning, I am greeted by a big smile. My heart jumps every time!

Happy three month birthday Rory!

And Happy St. Patrick's Day!



I was able to get a great video of Rory yesterday that I would love to post, but the only way I know how to do that is by uploading on youtube and I don't really want to do that. Does anyone know of any other way to get a video onto a blog?

Five Things

5 things you probably didn't know about me:

that's me, taken from a family photo
1. My toe nails are blue,
2. I make sweet potato fries almost everyday (baked so they are still kind of healthy),
3. My daughter usually only has one sock on at a time as there is always one missing,
4. I hate house work,
5. I am addicted to hot chocolate.

Oh Winter, You Are Still Here

Saturday was yet another gloomy rainy day, the weather channel predicted rain all day and night. I certainly didn't mind since rain means it's not going to snow and we are moving out of winter and into spring. What a silly girl I must be to really think that. I've been living in New England my whole entire life and I know that March is one of those months that it can hit 60 degrees or we can get three feet of snow and this can all happen in the same day. You just never know. And it has become quite clear to me that the weather channel has no idea what they are talking about.

So back to Saturday. What was a lazy, somewhat boring day, turned into a freakish and scary night.

In order to keep this story as short as possible (which it won't be), I will just give a brief play by play.

8:30 - I'm sitting on my couch with Rory when I look out the window to see the sky light up blue. As I am saying "wow, it's lightening out!" the power goes out and TJ yells for me to come to the kitchen. He sounds panicked!

8:35 - I'm in kitchen watching flames shooting over the tree line at the bottom of our street. Now in my mind this means my friends house has gone up in flames. I see my neighbor across the street jump in his car and fly down there to help. The fire seems to be causing these strange explosions that are lighting up the sky but because there are trees seperating my view from my friends house I can't really tell what is going on. But it looks bad!

8:40 - I am totally freaking out!!! In fact I am balling! I send TJ down to make sure my friend is out of his house and okay. As he puts on his jacket my neighbor across the street pulls back into his driveway and runs in his house. As TJ runs out the door, he notices the electrical box on my neighbors house is shooting out sparks. Holy crap the whole neighborhood is going to burn down! So TJ instead runs to the neighbor across the street to tell him his house is about to go up in flames too.

8:45 - I am so panicked at this point that I have Rory in her car seat just in case I need to get out of this place and I'm collecting my kitties cause they are coming too. TJ and the neighbor come back over and his house has stopped sparking. Our power starts to flicker on and off again, over and over again.

9:00 - The power goes out and doesn't come back on. I finally find out that my friends house is not on fire, but a power line went down and was whipping around hitting things and causing the explosions and fire. The neighbors house was apparently sparking because of a power surge cause by the downed wires. And my friend was out of his house and safe just in case the wire did start it on fire.

Okay, so now it doesn't sound so bad but while it was happening I was totally having a meltdown. This could be because I have watched my other neighbors house burn down twice in the last 15 years and I probably need therapy because it has me scared to death of fire. Could be because I have a baby that I need to keep safe. Or could be that I am at the wrong end of a dead end road and would be stuck here if anything went wrong. I think I'll go with all three.

So you would think that I would have calmed down once I knew everyone was okay and we were safe but no, I couldn't. I couldn't because that rain the weather channel predicted was not rain anymore....it was ice! The wind was so bad it knocked out the powerline, the roads were super icy and I couldn't go anywhere. Why would you want to anywhere you ask, oh well I'll tell you. Because we didn't have any power, therefore we didn't have any heat and oh, did I mention that I have a baby, and oh, did I mention that it was 26 degrees outside? Needless to say, I was a wreck! I had to decide whether to stay and take a chance of us freezing or get in a car and take a chance on the dangerous roads to get somewhere warm.

I chose to stick it out. I put Rory in about eight thousand layers, stuck her in her swing and covered her in twenty thousand blankets. Pulled the guest room mattress into the living room since it was the warmest room in the hosue. And sat up for many hours worrying and waiting for the power to come back on. Once I finally did fall asleep I proceeded to wake up every 10 minutes
(no lie, I set an alarm) for the entire night to check on Rory and make sure she wasn't an ice cube.

At 8:15 a.m. the power finally came back on. Rory had no idea anything even happened and slept better than she normally does. I, however, was so tired that I felt drunk. And of course, once I didn't have to worry anymore and could finally get some sleep, Rory decided it was time to get up.

It turns out that all the stressing I did over making the right decision of whether to stay or go was entirely pointless since the bottom of my street flooded and we couldn't have left if we wanted to.

Insane!

Damn the weather channel and damn the month of March!

I'm moving south!

My Sunshine

A little bit of sunshine on this gloomy, rainy day!

Rory is 12 weeks old!

I love this retro style dress her daddy bought her!

Weekly

Photographs that make me happy that the snow is finally meltng!

Sweet Shop by Lolas Room

Swingin' by Retrospect Photo

Magnolia Tree by Shaded Memories

The View from My Couch by Me

Birds at Brighton by Eleanor Jane

Oh spring, you much we have missed you! How happy are you to see spring?

Pretty Packaging

As you know, I just love to receive packages in the mail. So, of course, I jumped on the chance to be a part of Oh Hello Friend's Lovely Package Exchange. I'm not kidding either, I sat and waited for that post to go up for days and signed right up. I missed it last time and I was not about to miss it again!

So now I have to prepare for the main event. The exchange! I have ordered some packaging supplies and got out those that I already have. I have several themes in mind, but of course, the one I choose must be kept a secret so that my partner doesn't find out before he/she receives their packages. Don't worry though, I will share once my partner has received the gifts.

Above are a few things that I have ordered so far. Some are from California Craft and some from Olive Manna. My order from California Ctaft was packaged very nicely. It is always so nice to receive a lovely package!

If you like to make pretty packages here are a couple of links to inspire you.

Packaging
Giver's Log
LovelyPackageExchange

Happy Thursday!

Featured Guest Giveaway

Not here, but here! Visit Emmy's Boos and Rawrs for a chance to win my Mini Flowers and Dots bag and a pair of Pink Crocheted Flower hairpins from my shop!

A big thanks to Emmy for hosting my giveaway!

Good luck!!!

Don't Feel Bad

A little taste of spring

Sometimes I feel really guilty when I spend a couple of hours a day on the computer (only when my baby is napping of course). I  am either working on my shop or my blog and therefore being productive, but the guilt remains. There is always laundry to be done and a load of other housekeeping things waiting for my attention. So I was thrilled and releaved when I read this on the marta writes blog. It really helped me to kick the guilt to the curb!

my own awesome mom typed up the following guest post about what some may call wasting time online. she is a writer and spends a lot of time at her desk reading, learning, researching and typing at her computer. she uses her blog as a tool for fleshing out memories, jotting down stories she wants to pass on and getting in daily writing practice. marty says...
 I disagree with the idea that being online is a waste of time. I'd call it a use of time. I get defensive when somebody else decides that what I enjoy doing is a waste of time. According to whom?


When I'm online I read book reviews, recipes, current events, and health tips. I am inspired, and my mind is expanded. I've learned computer skills, writing techniques, toured photo galleries, participated in therapy sessions, become familiar with different lifestyles and ideas that broaden my understanding. I don't see the difference between learning from bloggers, books, photography classes, college courses, or child psychologists. I don't think relaxing on a golf course, quilting or biking is a waste of time, but I don't think those activities are superior to unwinding in front of the computer. They're just different. To me, wasting time means doing something I intensely dislike doing when I could be doing something necessary and/or enjoyable.

I hope this helps all of you guilty internet perusers out there. I know I feel better!

Weekend Project

Just a quick post to share a few things I worked on this weekend. Rory has been very needy this week and I've found that I can sit and hold her while making these cute little hairpins. I love multitasking!

I have a few more things in the works, I will share once they are complete. You can find all three of these hairpins in my shop!

Interviewed I Was

Want to learn a little more about me? Take a peak at my interview over at Funny Sky!

I always feel so funny doing an interview. I try to keep it real, but my real is super corny! I do have to admit that it is fun. And corny can be cool...I think.

Let me know what you think!

Keys of the Skeletons...A Little Story

When I was little, my grandparents house was my playground. One thing that stands out in my memory is their collection of skeleton keys that hung on the key hooks near the telephone. They had several keychains all filled with skeleton keys. Some keys were to the old doors around the house, some were to old pieces of furniture that had locks, most didn't belong to anything in that old house at all. I used to take those keys and pretend they would open secret rooms and gardens or help me to find a magical place. I can't tell you how many times I tried to climb through the back of a closet thinking this will be the time that it actually works with my magical keys in hand. I also remember looking for tiny little doors that lead to who knows where but be sure that I had my keys in hand to get through that door whether I was big or small.


Several years ago my grandparents both passed and my husband and I moved into their house. My family spent many days going through their things and cleaning the place up a bit. I don't remember seeing those old keys anywhere. Many of my grandparents belongings have remained in the house, some cleaned out others not touched. About a year ago, I came across two skeleton keys. I was so excited, I created a special little place to keep them in my craft area.

A couple of months ago my husband came across two more keys. Those went to the special place too.

 And just a few days ago, while I was rummaging through my grandmothers old writing desk, I came across a whole bunch of them.

Now, there are still many many more to be found, but I am enjoying the search. These little keys are more magical than ever, secretly hiding out in their magical places just waiting to be found. It's like they have been brought back to life and boy do they have my imagination going full steam. I can't wait to go discover more magical places with Rory. I hope she loves the keys of the skeletons as much as I do! And that's my little story.

While rummaging through that old desk, I found these cool vintage items as well!

My First Treasury!

I am so honored and excited to share with you that one of my bags made it into an etsy treasury!

Thank you Nurit for choosing my bag! And congratulations to all of the other talented artists and crafters that make this treasury beautiful!

Hello weekend!

Weekly

Since Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time favorite stories, and the newest version is to be released this weekend, this weeks Favorite Finds just had to be all about Alice. Enjoy!

Alice In Wonderland Teacup III by Love Your Bling

Down the Rabbit Hole by No Wonder

Victorian Pocket Watch by Fink Gifts

Tea Under the Wonderland Tree by The Poppy Tree

Purple Polka Mushroom by me, Lazy Apples

Does anyone love Alice in Wonderland as much as I do?

Happy Thursday!