Thank you!!!

Oh. my. goodness. Athens, you rock!

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by the Athens Indie Craftstravaganza yesterday. I had such a blast and it was so great to meet so many of you! It was such a successful show and there were so many great local artisans there. It was way bigger than I had anticipated (almost 100 crafters) and thousands of attendees. I loved having people stop by my booth and tell me that they recognize my jewelry and hair accessories from various places all over town. Thank you so much to all my repeat customers as well as all you brand new ones!

I had a few new things occur at this craft show than in previous events. 1) I was on the far end of the fair, right next to a long alley way which basically turned into a wind tunnel. At one point, my bulletin board jewelry stands turned into sails and my booth was closed for about 30 minutes while I untangled all my jewelry. Luckily no damages, just a big crazy mess. 2) I had my first shoplifter. I have always heard horror stories about this happening, but have been lucky so far. I think for as many shows as I have done in the past year, to only have one $25.00 necklace stolen, I should count my blessings. But I am now going to be eagle-eyed at my next show. 3) This was my first time having a line. Like an actual check-out line with more than one person waiting. Super flattering to say the least.

My husband starting taking photos when he came to give me a potty break but the camera died after about five photos and I forgot batteries. So...here are the four photos that turned out! These were taken right after I reopened, with all my jewelry lying flat and safe.

Athens Indie Craftstravaganza!!

Hello Athens, GA friends!!

If you live in/near/around Athens, you need to come to the Indie Craftstravaganza holiday market tomorrow! I am so excited to participate as this will be my first time as a seller with this group. I had been to their May market and loved it, so I am so stoked to be able to participate tomorrow. The market is from 10am-6pm and besides having over 60 different artisans selling their handmade goods, there will be food carts, crafting demos and other fun activities. If you have been to one of their craft shows before, you now what kind of awesomeness it is going to be.

Tomorrow's market is at a brand new location, so don't go to the old area near Agora on Clayton Street. It is located in the parking lot of Ben's Bikes off of Pope and Broad Street near downtown. I am not sure if the booths will be numbered for buyers to see or if there will be a map, but if there is, I will be booth 37. It is smack dab in the middle of the main aisle.

I am going to have lots of new jewelry (brand new items: bracelets), more knitted goodies and my signature flowers. I really hope that you can make it and can't wait to see you there!

December Goals

As the new month is upon us (and my birthday month!), I decided to make a list of ten goals that I would like to accomplish this month. I am planning on keeping this list updated throughout the month and everything that is highlighted BOLD has been accomplished, things italicized are in progress.

1) Run 100 miles in December. If I follow my marathon training plan, I should be running 101 miles.

2) Lose 1 pound a week. With my birthday and Christmas, this is going to be a challenge.

3) Take outfit photos of myself at least twice a week.

4) Read three books (One of which is rereading East of Eden. I got this from the library last week and I haven't started it yet).

5) Keep track of my calories 6 days out of the week and maintain my daily calorie allotment 6 days out of the week (except for my birthday!!).

6) Learn how to work my sewing machine. Sew something simple, yet awesome. Pillows, curtains, skirt.

7) Work on and finish my husband's Christmas present. It's a secret, but quite a bit of work.

8 ) Steam clean the carpet in my apartment

9) Train my puppy 20 minutes each day, 7 days a week. Hopefully get him to master down, shake and speak.

10) Only read Perezhilton for 20 minutes a day.

10)

New Items In Stock!

As many of you know, I have been having a 20% sale for the past few days. The sale officially ends at Midnight tonight (EST), so if you want to get take advantage of these never-before-so-low prices, you better act quickly! The sale is going on in both of my etsy stores - www.mycellardoor.etsy.com & www.nomsa.etsy.com.

I added a bunch of new items to both of my stores. I have oodles of new designs that I still need to add, so check back often in the next few days for a lot of new items! If you want any more information about any of the items below, just click on the photo to get all the details!

Dresses...

I am definitely a jeans type of girl. In fact, I am an Old Navy, Sweetheart Style, Dark Wash, jeans type of girl. I swear to the high gods that from the time I hit puberty until I moved to Georgia last summer, I never ever ever wore a pair of shorts and dresses were for certain occasions (weddings and funerals).  This isn't because I disliked skirts and dresses but rather disliked my calves. As my grandfather once told me, 'You have stout legs because you come from a long line of potato farmers. They need to be thick so you can stand in the fields a long time.'

Awwww....exactly the words a 14 old girl wants to hear. Well...as I got older, I gained some weight and my legs never ever saw the light of day. I actually worked outside all summer in 2008 in Richmond, VA registering people to vote for 12 hours a day and wore jeans. That is how dedicated to the cause of hiding my calves I was. Well...alas...my husband finally convinced me after we moved to Georgia that I might pass out if I continue to wear jeans in the summer (he also told me how cute I looked in dresses and skirts. A lot.)

Over the past year I have purchased a pair of shorts (a pair) and also invested in a few above the knee dresses from Old Navy. Even this last month I wore a pair of tights with a dress. Unheard of for me.

But as I keep running and losing some of the weight I gained after college, I am starting to get a bit more comfortable with my calves. They are still huge and I can't wear boots because I have never managed to find a pair to go over my calves, but....I am not quite as self-conscious as I used to be about them. Still don't enjoy them, but don't get terrified when they are not hidden underneath a layer of thick denim.

The point of all of this is to say that I am starting to look for cute dresses to wear and gosh darn there are a lot around. I never had any appreciation for them before and am now blown away by the absolute cuteness I ignored for so many years.

 

via ticktockvintage

I absolutely love the details on the collar of this dress and the pale silk fabric looks so amazing.

 

via ScathinglyBeautiful

The pastel combination of this whole outfit is so delicious. Total sherbert inspired.

via LittleChiefHoneyBee

I love the giant heart on this dress. Also, rust has never been a favorite color of mine, but she totally makes it work with the black tights and red hair.

Parking Lot Hijinks

Husband and I ventured out of the house today to do some exciting things. We went to the library, post office and bought some printer ink. Yeehaw!!

Somewhere in the middle of this, in a grocery store parking lot, a man came up to my Husband and offered to buff and polish the back fender on our Prius. About six months ago someone side swipped our car in a parking lot and drove off. They practically took off our back bumper, but with some gorilla glue, we managed to reattach it. It hasn't looked too good since. I didn't mind the dents, but it was starting to rust a little bit.

Anywho, this guy convinced my husband that he could make our fender look as good as new. He was one hell of a salesman. He told us he actually worked for the local toyota dealership, that he just 'happened' to have the tools in the back of his Cadillac Escalade and that he could make it look as good as new in 20 minutes. I just stood to the side and surveyed the parking lot while they were talking, sure as anything that some sort of raid was about to happen. He told us he was doing this to get some extra money for his kids and that all this miracle work was only going to cost us $200. Well...my husband talked this guy down to $100 and the next thing I know, this guy pulls a giant blowtorch out of his car, some spray paint and his assistant (aka - lady friend) and gets to work.

I hopped in the car to stay warm and let me husband survey the car repair situation. As I nervously looked around, I watched a giant traffic jam form in the parking lot as people just stopped driving to stare at the man with a giant blowtorch scorching our car.

Well....20 minutes later and I swear to Jebus, our fender was as good as new. No dents, no scratches and with a beautiful fresh coat of paint. My husband tipped him an extra $20 and convinced at least one other person in the parking lot to let the man fix her car.

Moral of the story: If a tall, heavy man approaches you in a parking lot with a blowtorch, bolt cutters and spray paint in a partially abandoned parking lot.....be prepared to get a great deal on car repair.

Big Changes Are Coming!

Howdy Y'all!

Goodness....time sure does fly. I mean...I haven't blogged in ages....and well, I guess I have never actually done it consistently ever. Well...fret no more dear readers (hi Mom!). Today I spent all day doing 'research' (i.e. reading other people's blogs) and I got inspired. So inspired in fact that I plan on being a blogger. Not just a 'oh, I better blog to show some new items that I have for sale' or a 'I need to blog so my husband will stop nagging me about it' blogger. Nope...none of those. I have decided that I am going to be a legitimate blogger. Like for real. So get ready. I got lots and lots of great ideas, funny stories to share and insightful things to discuss.

But I did eat a lot of food tonight. We didn't do Thanksgiving since my Husband was studying all day/night for law school exams, so I made up for it today by eating two dinners. And a dessert. So I am getting a little bit sleepy. So I might have to start blowing your mind tomorrow.

PS....I decided to make a 'microwave brownie for one' (don't judge!) and I figured I might as well document it for my blog because you know...I am a real blogger now. Anywho here are the photos...



Anxiously awaiting, spoon in hand, for my delicious brownie to microwave itself to gooey perfection (ps...my microwave isn't really that dirty. Whoever lived in our apartment before us burned holes in the microwave door.)



"Coincidentally," my husband left his study lair just in time to come into the kitchen as the brownie was finishing. He totally grabbed it from me and ran off.



I tried to rationalize with him about how this was for me, and that it was for my blog. He decided to be a jerk and block all attempts at photographing the delicious desert. I asked him politely (i.e. whined) to set it down for my photographing pleasure.



So there you have it. My poop looking microwave brownie in all its glory, getting devoured by my husband. So this silly picture is all you get of it because I then threw down my camera, grabbed my brownie and huddled in the corner while I ate it in all its warm, gooey goodness.

So I hope you have as fun of a Friday night as we did!

PPS....Remember....big changes are coming! Just not when my tummy is so full.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread?

On a whim a few months ago I bought baking raisins (the kind already plump and moist) and have had baking with them on my to-do list since then. I finally got around to it today as my apartment smelled weird and old and I needed something to spice up the air around here.

I found this recipe on www.100daysofrealfood.com. Now it is not 100% vegan as it does use honey as the sweetener. I am a vegan that uses honey, so if you don't, use agave or vegan cane sugar, or brown rice syrup. I wanted to try this recipe out because it uses coconut oil in it. A lot of it in fact. I bought some a few months ago after reading about some delicious things my sister-in-law was using it for and have been really bummed out by it in my own adventures. I have used it only twice...1) Made a grilled cheese for husband with it. Didn't get good reviews as he doesn't like his coconuts and cheese mixing. 2) For frosting. What a disaster. Due to its consistency, it just kept melting and sliding off the cupcakes. I had to add so much powdered sugar to the frosting to get it firm up that my teeth ached after one bite.

Now...this baby just came out of the oven. And wow....adding a 1/2 cup of oil to it just makes it fabulous! I had to improvise from the original recipe as my bread machine turned off by itself half-way through the process and I had no idea when to add the raisins (btw...I did it after the bread rose for about 45 minutes). This bread is so moist. The bread machine massacured my raisins, so there is really not a single whole raisin in it, but raisin bits throughout it. Honestly, this bread takes like the dark rye bread they serve at Outback Steakhouse (I haven't had it in a few years, but I remember it fondly).

So to sum up...coconut oil in baking bread is awesome. No coconut taste and incredibly moist bread. Baking raisins are a joke, but when your bread machine purees them, it gives your bread a rye taste. And somehow after following a recipe for cinnamon raisin bread I made Outback Steakhouse bread. Sounds like a success to me!

Here's a link to the recipe... http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/25/recipe-whole-wheat-cinnamon-raisin-bread-for-bread-machine/

Final Summer Day

I miss the early fall of Colorado. The changing leaves, the cool weather, the smell of pine needles highlighted on the Chinook wind over the Flatirons in Boulder.  In Georgia, fall is delayed. Tremendously late in fact. Today the high was going to be 85 degrees which is just ridiculous for Mid-October. My puppy is shedding like crazy because he already grew in his winter coat, so now my vacuum is getting a good work-out as I have to clean every two days to keep my beige carpet from turning gray with fur.

I brought my camera on our morning walk this morning and found a few leaves that are just starting to change, getting ready to welcome with open arms the cooler weather. My puppy though loves this warm weather and happily chewed on sticks, played with his girlfriend and explored while I gripped to myself about how warm it was at 9am.

Chevron Love Affair

Lately, I have gotten a crush on chevron. The sharp lines, the bold colors, and the charlie brown reference, has got me swooning.

I am starting to become obsessed and have been on the hunt for all things chevron to fulfill my new crush.



If this baby blanket doesn't make you want to procreate, I don't know what will.  UrbanTot on Etsy



I am in love with the colors of this pendant, as well as the wood frame. There are also some amazing chevron belt buckles in this store! NeedleYou on Etsy.



This is just awesome. A vintage sweater, a handmade beaver applique and chevron? Yes, please! Aorta on Etsy.



Once again, the color is what first drew me to this pillow. But after staring at it for days, I can't get over the more subtle and slightly middle eastern chevron pattern twist. WillaSkyeHome on Etsy.



Just a little bit of Chevron for everyday wear. If I wore rings (besides my wedding ring), these would be first on the list. MelanieFavreau on Etsy.

 

I have also created an etsy treasury list showing off some other great chevron items I found.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/Nzg5MzQ4OHw5MDU3NjQ0NjY/chevron-love-affair

Enjoy and let me know if you are completely in love with chevron as well or if another pattern has stolen your heart!