better late, than never...right?

last weekend we had a nice whidbey trip that was of course, all too short. they always are. you see, mondays are never an option for me to take off- so that makes it harder. friday's are nathan's inventory day, so as long as he gets that covered...we're good for a 3 day. we came up for doots baby shower that was on the way out on sunday. here are a few photo's of the trip.
we got to have a nice night at cam and nord's house and pop pop came to visit at oma's. it was more liek spring there than is is here. i hope we will catch up soon!

the short and sweet sale!

shop this seattle area team this saturday february 28th!

all fun themes of 28. ooooh. neat.

www.sweetanthem.etsy.com ($.28 cent shipping)

www.babyhoot.etsy.com (28 products that are 28% off regular price with $.28 shipping)

www.sidneyann.etsy.com (28% off everything in the store)

www.sweetpetula.etsy.com (28 items multiple qtys. 28% off)

www.rachel323.etsy.com (28% off all jewelry) ME!

the first person who get me this on a mug wins

i hate to blog this.

i really do. i was not going to talk about it, but i am going to a little bit.

we are trying to buy a house. nothing is finalized of course and it will be 3 more weeks until close. so, please...no congratulations yet. it freaks me out. we put an offer on, they accepted. it was inspected, and it went great. it is now in appraisal and then heads to the bank. (ahhhh!)
this was house number 7 that we looked at. we fell in love with it the minute we walked in. the home owners have put so much time and money into a complete remodel. the house is beautifully quaint. it is a 2 bedroom with a den and a full basement. (hello ETSY room!) it has a garage, wood floors downstairs, a new sprinkler system and a big bad ass fireplace OUTSIDE. weenies will be roasted. period.
that's all for now.
now, shhhh. quietly be excited for us. :)

something really special just happened!!

sweetpetula just sold her 1000th sale!! how fantastic!

it's treasury month.

that studio cherie is at it again!

click it up folks! go ahead, the more clicks you make, the more awesome you are.

aaaand another one!!

click away folks! your viewing is what makes its popularity grow, and it will have a chance to get to the front page!

another cute treasury!

click it up! help get us to the front page!

in a fun new treasury

random thoughts

*what's cuter than a baby bunny? nothing.

this one will be just as scattered as i feel.
*after one cup of coffee i jumped up and started 'spring cleaning' before i could convince myself it was a bad way to spend my nice sunday. load after load of laundry. i packed up some winter stuff that i never really utilized, as well as 3 drawers of other clothing that has not been used in way to long. then the laundry moved into textiles, bedding and re washing upcoming spring clothing.
it finally ended at 7pm. we are all pooped and just finished a really yummy dinner.

*my heart hurts a little, i just sold my 'spring sprout necklace'. the pretty roman glass one.
i knew it was going to be hard to let these babies go, but i cant seal the envelope. i just need a few more minutes. i hope she likes it. i will be able to post another one, somewhat similar. i expect the same feelings when that one goes as well.

*i know nothing about childbirth. i am reminded of this every time someone i know has a baby. a friend of a friend had a baby this weekend. i would text constantly asking if baby was here yet. i would get texts back that said all sorts of labor terms that i cant even remember. my texts were completely inquisitive and totally unknowing. i got a text that said "she is at a nine" and i knew this meant centimeters. this much i knew. but...my inappropriate text back was "so, how far does a who-ha open up anyway?" the answer was "omg you nerd. it's 10". my response was " well, then tell her i am so happy to hear it's not 40."
because i looked at a ruler and it was very concerning.
i have never seen a birth, i have never wanted to, and i hope i never do. i barely know where babies come from and the only reason why i do, is because ann explained it all to me. i never really read book, i just asked her a million questions. i'm not sure what really went on in there the whole time. i had an emergency c section at 7 months (no, not because i am dumb) because she was done, cooked and ready. early. ;)
i had a teeny tiny little 2" cut and they slipped her right out in 90 seconds. piece of cake.
i saw nothing. i suppose i will read a book on it eventually. but nonetheless, i feel that i need to know more about this subject.

that's it. bath time. night all!

JANUARY GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

well, now.
isn't this just very exciting!
thank you all so much for your wonderful stories and just plain entering!
studio cherie is this months lucky winner. chosen by drawing via lanna, this spokane artist makes some great bags and patterns worth checking out! also, she now has a pretty active and fun blog.
congratulation cherie! way to go lanna, eh?

i just want to lick it.

i scored majorly tonight.
oh come on...i mean at the bead shop. there is this really eclectic place downtown that carries a lot of stones and actual artifacts from upwards of 2000 years ago. they have village tokens from greece that were never supposed to leave the village, super rare indian trade glass ect. tonight something really hit me (and my wallet) hardcore. but i just had to. there in the 'don't look over this way, i am waaay too expensive wall' was this beautiful strand of roman glass. i grabbed it thinking never have i touched glass this old, but i may never again. then came the light. it's like i was taken over by the romans. they whispered in my ear, get it. get it, it's almost your birthday and you deserve the world this year. yes, i said. i know, but i also need to eat. get it, they say. so i did. i walked to the counter sweating and purchased this glass. when i take it off the strand tonight and begin to make earrings and necklaces with it, i can tell already i will have a hard time when someone buys one. these are it. they will never have these again, and neither will i. ok, that's lie. i will totally make two pairs for myself and a necklace. it's delicious. it's aqua, lemon yellow, sea green and cobalt. it looks like sea glass in a way, but you can see the fossilization starting. i will be posting some tomorrow. tear.

* i held back, but what i really wanted to do was question her on how the hell did she get her hands on this and who did she rob to get it??

i found a dear friend!

i am just thrilled beyond words.
the first day of 3rd grade i met this lovely girl named elizabeth. we were inseparable. i spent so many days and nights at her house, that i often wondered if her gracious parents wondered where the 4th child came from. her dad was a basketball coach and he would often let us shoot with his balls on the weekends. we were destined to go pro. i remember so many wonderful things about our friendship. remember fimo? we were addicted to it and it just so happened that she had a wonderful stash of it. we made everything- jewelry, furniture pieces, obscene things, you name it we made it. the whole house would fill up with that plastic/clay smell as you were baking it. it was so much fun. we even traveled to her grandparents house one year and they paid for us to take tennis lessons. we were destined to go pro. i think that was the last time i played tennis. weird. we also rocked the bad mitten court. ie: her backyard. ooooh man we were good. we were destined to go pro.

to give you an idea of when this was, ace ventura pet detective was JUST released on video. she got a copy as soon as it came out and she was a lucky duck and had the ace ventura i.d. card. i was so jealous. *side note: my husband has one and i call it mine. pump up the jam had just came out and one easter we would take out cadbury milk duds and lick the blue ones and put them on our lips. hot, i know. we were awesome. we also both loved fred savage soooo much.
i won't tell you what we did to reiterate that. (oh stop it, jeeze.)

sleepover after sleepover liz was an amazing outlet for me as my dad was formerly married to a major biotch of the universe. liz should be delighted to know that it ended when i was 13, and not soon enough. single handledy the happiest day of my life. seriously. i'm not sure how it happened or when, but we slowly started to lose touch. we lived so close, and i hate that it happened. it soon turned into doorstep greetings. every may day and valentines day we would leave each other a little something on each others doorstep. i remember my very last bouquet of flowers from her. they were daffodils. my very favorite. soon after that she started to attend another school and we never saw each other. i also started my first job. i worked at island bakery and by now, it was my freshman year in high school. with my job weekends became obsolete.

my sophomore year of HS i ran into her in a local store, i was so excited to see her. we had a small chat and i never knew that it was going to be our last one for nearly 15 years. i hate that i went through high school without her. HS is hard enough without a good support system and i definitely needed her as a part of my life. not a day passed that i did not think about her. i met my husband my junior year and i remember us leaving notes in her mailbox in hopes her parents or the new tenants could get it to her. i never had luck. years that seem like forever passed and i can't believe that i never once ran into her.

i feel like i just gained a huge part of my life that was missing for so long. even though she was not there physically, i have always considered her one of my very best friends. lucky for me she is still in the area and we hope to re-connect this year. not hope, we will. and i will count the days until we do. i can only imagine this is what it feels like to win the lottery-but way better. this is the best year ever.

saturday

we are gearing up for superbowl ie: snacks. (national chicken wing day.)
probably one of my MOST favorite days.
it was a beautiful sunny saturday and i hear sun is in the forecast for the next week. so what if the high temp is 30, the sun is out and that makes it ok. poor lanna has gotten what nathan and i had. we both had our share of the stomach flu and now unfortunately it was her turn. i really thought she was in the clear. the little think has not gotten off the couch since 8am except for her quick bath. she has a temperature, headache and a belly ache. let's hope she gets better soon!
while she rests, i am enjoying this: and now it's time to make pretty things.

i made it to the front page of ETSY today!

and i missed it.

randi was wonderful enough to catch it, and take a screen capture for me. i had sold these earrings right away this morning and then had convo's following asking for more. several hours later it all made sense to me. i was a celebrity for like one hour.
very very cool.

lanna's future partner,

i blame oma for this one.
when i was a baby/toddler oma would scritch my back pretty much any time i asked as well as every night before i went to sleep. well it stuck. since nathan and i have been together, it has become a full time job. and he never complains about it. this is why he is so wonderful. well... as i am sitting here about to drag out all of my beads i hear "daddy, scritch me. no, right here. higher. a little over that way...yah!" and then...a teeny tiny glare pointed in my direction from the husband. this is a life long chore for someone. i just wonder who...
crap.
i apologize to her future spouse. and to be clear, it's oma's fault.

the trees of spokane today

this is not a result from snow, but from weeks of freezing fog. the trees just stop you in your tracks they are so beautiful. the parks look like a black and white photo. the trunks are bare and each individual branch has been brushed with fog and then crystalized. i have never seen this before. i love this park.

not your everyday dollhouse

i get a kick out of lanna's dollhouse. this was her birthday gift from nathan and i this year. she gets endless hours of playtime out of this little house. none of the things were set up by me.
this is au naturalle.

it's more of a star wars meeting ground

i'm sorry, i'm not quite sure what is going on here. let's move on.

batman hiding in the kitchen. that lurker

a rug and a sheepie on the bed. superman and camo-lightening mc queen enjoy her company

while chewbacca mails something in this nifty USPS box (given by lijah)
thai-leung and master yoda enjoy a nice bubble bath.

wonder pig is on the roof!

uh...

kung fu panda#2 tries to impress supergirl

a wild balcony party.

1000

ok, well i thought i would have another few weeks before making this announcement, but it really snuck up me quick! i just posted a few weeks ago that i hit 900 sales. well, i am 7 sales away from 1000!

the buyer of that item will receive something pretty AWESOME. i can't wait!!!

thank you everyone for keeping me so darn busy! good luck to that buyer! (woooohoooo!)

JANUARY GIVEAWAY!!

ooooh it's that time again!
this one is just going to be wonderful. i can tell. i made these earrings for myself and i adore them! i wear them all the time and i even get the comments at work, "uh, you already wore those"
so i knew i needed to share them. you will love them too! these are sweet little brass colored branches with little leaves. they are so sweet! and they great part...they go with everything!
i will be including a beautiful bath and body works bronze makeup bag. **remember**
if you post this on your blog, you get to pick anyone else who has commented to to receive this same great gift!


TO ENTER:
tell me your worst winter experience thus far. there are so many things that we don't think of when we are calling snow bad things like "fun, pretty, great...ect."
ok fine, it's pretty. on the trees. give me your best/worst story you have encountered. even the every day small stuff that we tend to forget about. it can be short, just a few sentences, or even just a good "i hate winter."

like the time when we woke up and had to spend 2.5 hours shoveling ourselves out of the driveway, only to find out...the road still has 2 feet of snow, and no snow plow has come by yet. you cant really pull out onto a road that is up to your shins. not cool.

or, when you have been out of groceries for a week (and contemplating eating cat food) and you finally decide you can't take it anymore and travel to the store. you get stuck at every stop you make and strangers have to push you out. ONLY to discover when you finally make it out of the store with your basket CRAMMED ASS FULL of everything in the store...how the hell are you going to push a cart across the parking lot with a foot of snow? let me tell you. you aren't. you will attempt do do it, spilling groceries at every massive shove that you give the cart. you will fall down and practically break your butt, say a bad word then apologize to the baby for using mild profanity such as 'stupid'. you will hold up very angry drivers who want to turn- but you are 'too busy falling down'. you will somehow make it to the car, while yet another stranger helps you with the cart, 400lbs of groceries and a 4 year old old in the front and all. you will want to put the groceries away but OOooooh...look at this, the trunk is frozen shut. you will smile, thank the man, tell him that you have everything under control and pray to the sweet sweet block of cheese that you have- and hope by kicking the trunk 'it will somehow pop it open'. by golly it works and you throw them in there as fast as you can and get the H E double hockey sticks out of that nasty parking lot. you know, things like this that suck.

and GO!

treasury overload!

it seems like almost every day for a week i have been in a treasury. i have never been lucky enough to make one however...
see them here
a sexy little one!
and this one
and this one too!

new one of a kind necklaces

new lip balms for the new year!

huckleberry, creme brulee and raspberry truffle.
happy new year to your lips!

happy birthday my love!

new years day is nathan's birthday around here. we do celebrate, but for him. we will be celebrating all weekend (we work friday) and then will resume in the spring. it's hard to really get out and do things and celebrate the way we should in the winter. since nathan and i are both turning 3o this year, the festivities will continue into the spring. i love you more and more every day and i hope you have a wonderful birthday. we will most likely be batteling the question before breakfast:
do we eat red velvet cake or bacon? ok, both.

snow. might as well look pretty in it.

santa tracker

last year we enjoyed tracking santa in real time. this year, she loved it even that much more.
if you have never tracked santa, keep this for next year, it's so exciting. when santa reaches the US, it's time for bed-and she obliged. she was snoring in 5 mn, which i still cannot believe. it was hours until i would fall asleep and i felt like i was going to throw up the whole time. she is so much cooler then i am. santa tracker

the santa express

at the downtown mall they set up a santa express for children to shop. an elf comes to take the kids back and they can pick out whatever they want for the individuals on their lists. lanna had so much fun and we did too just waiting for her. here are a few photo's from the process.

excited and waiting in line

well, look at that. out of all the letters in the alphabet, she gets clipboard "L"

waiting for an elf to come and take her away.

more waiting for the elf

please don't tell her i spied on here while wrapping things.

down the 'aligator' the baby goes.

i heart zicam

this stuff is the best stuff ever.
way better then airborne, ect...
it comes in many forms. sprays, melt tabs and swabs.
i prefer swabs. i don't have to eat or smell anything this way. it's just a wet little swab that you rub in your nose and wala...done. repeat a couple of times a day. i get rid of anything i may have coming on with this and i use it on lanna too. less often for kids, but there are kid versions too. this stuff is the best. i used when i took the tablets it made me a little queezy. its a ZINC tab, or stick and a lot of zinc in your body at once can make you feel a little ick for about 5 mn or so. i don't get that feeling at all with the swab. you can find these babies pretty much anywhere. i get them at target or safeway. they are highly recommended with flu season coming up. a few months back nathan and i got a really bad head cold. lanna woke up with a fever and a bad cough. i started swabbing her often and she completely got rid of hers by the next day. we were still sick and she was A-OK. she is often the only one in her class that does not get sick. if you already have symptoms it shortens them dramatically-but you need to catch it in the first 48 hours of feeling it. if it's already been a week, it's too late. this stuff circles my work constantly. we will buy a costco box of them and people can use them as they need to. I LOVE IT.
i print off a coupon every time i need more.
you can too!

presents are expensive

lanna:
i reeeeally need some money out of my piggy bank

nathan:
why? what do you need to buy?

lanna:
nothing. i just need it.

nathan:
no, i think we should just leave your money in there

lanna:
but i really need it. i need to leave it on the table for santa. presents are expensive.

what's hot today?

never mind the fact that it has not stopped snowing since yesterday morning. but what's hot today is the 4 foot berm the snowplow made at midnight last night completely blocking us in. since it was done last night, the berm now feels like a solid block of ice. no one send gifts or cards, please send us your axe.

snow, part deux

i'd say we got about 3-4 more inches last night. nothing major. jeeze, at this point, what's another inch? today is the first day of winter, and thank dog it made it. i mean, what was yesterday? what was last last week? was this photo below taken in the midst of fall? why yes it was. yesterday was fall and today is winter. the best part about today is:
it's ANN's BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday beautiful!

driveway area

side yard and 8 foot fence

nathan carved out a path around the house

evil water sticks
this is the front yard and the 4 foot fence.