Mini-Vacation

I got to spend some time with my family this last week, which was nice. I had some time off work, and my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my little nephew all flew in to hang out for a few days. I had never seen my nephew in person (he's only 8 months old).


This was the only shot I got of him sleeping. Turns out that the sound my camera makes when taking a photo is loud enough to wake up a baby.


He was a litte cranky when he first woke up.


But brightened up very quickly.


At only 8 months old, he's nearly as big as his dad. That's my brother Deva, btw, of "Cuteness with Puppies" fame.


The kid also doesn't mind being turned upside-down, which I think is a very admirable trait.


And one more shot of un-adulterated cuteness.

Cuteness with Puppies

I came across these old photos on my little sister's Facebook page, and just had to share them.

My mom took these photos about 20 years ago, to put onto fliers to sell out Golden Retriever puppies. One lady calling about the puppies asked if she could buy the kids as well. My mom considered it, but ultimately said no.


My little sister hugging the big, fluffy puppy, with my little brother, Ryan, trying to get into the shot, as usual. Notice the plastic sword tied to his waist and the stick-weapon he's carrying. That was pretty much his everyday get-up.

More Pretty Jewelry

For someone who doesn't really wear jewelry, I sure do blog about it a lot. Here are some more pretties I came across on Etsy.

These are from the Etsy shop SusansJewelryDesigns, and are not only beautiful, but appear to be very well made. They're also quite affordable; most of the items in Susan's shop are around $16, with some earrings priced as low as $11 a pair.

These would be lovely to add just a bit of sparkle to an outfit.

I think these Tuscan sun earrings would look especially nice on someone with dark hair. There is also a ring in Susan's shop with this same design here.


Striking, while still being simple and classy


These look good enough to eat!


As usual, I've really focused on earrings in this post, because in any jewelry shop those are what tends to most catch my eye, but Susan also many lovely handmade rings, necklaces, and bracelets. You can take a browse by clicking here.

Simple "What's in the Fridge" Pasta

For me, cooking an actual meal is so rare, that when I do it, it's such an event that I have to blog about it. Today, it was this "what's in the fridge" pasta.


I boiled some pasta (they have this nice organic kind at Costco in yummy, chewy shapes) and thawed out a block of tofu that's been in my freezer since God knows when. Then I sauteed up the tofu with some fresh garlic, olive oil, and salt. For a change, I was careful not to burn the garlic or add too much salt. I had these 3 bell peppers (1 yellow, 1 orange, and 1 red) just withering away in my fridge (poor things) so I chopped those up and added them. Next, the remains of a bag of frozen spinach. When the peppers were almost done, I added the cooked pasta into the pot with the tofu and veggies, splashed in a bit more olive oil, stir-fried it all together for a bit, and voila, I have tasty, wholesome "real food" to eat for the next few days. It turned out super good!

The Ribbon Basket

I don't know anything about ribbon, and have never really used it in anything I do, but these photos really caught my eye.


When I first stumbled into this shop, The Ribbon Basket, I thought for a minute that these were art prints, rather than just product photos of ribbon for sale. They're just so nicely photographed!


So, just thought I would share them... Like I said, I know nothing about ribbon, but the prices seem very reasonable, and the ribbon looks lovely. I came across this shop through linkreferal.com, by the way, which is a link exchange site that I think has been pretty useful for me. You can read my blog post about my thoughts on linkreferal.com here.

Winners!

My Great Cell Phone Case Giveaway ended today, and the winner is.... drumroll... Mommy Kennedy! I'll be sending her the below cell phone case; the one she chose as her favorite.


Funny thing happened while I was getting the entries organized to randomly select the winner. A new message popped up in my inbox from Sadee at sadeeschillingstudio, saying I had just won her giveaway! I don't enter very many giveaways, but actually winning one really makes me want to participate in more! I got to choose any pendant from her store, and I chose this one:


Nice, right? I can't wait till it gets here! She's got lots more beauties in her shop, along with a variety of lovely art prints.

A Treasure Trove of Beautiful, Unique, and Affordable Jewelry

Now, I just spent all my recent Etsy earnings on a big box of new yarn, but if I hadn't then I would be sorely, sorely tempted to spend it all in this wonderful jewelry shop, nicholasandfelice. There are just so many gorgeous, unique pieces here, and each one is so very reasonably priced.


This is one of those shops where I had a really hard time choosing which photos to include in my post. There are just too many I wanted to include but couldn't, so be sure and check out their shop for lots more beautiful and original work.


I love what they do with metal! It must really take a lot of skill and artistry to bend it just right like that, with such a beautiful result. Most of their earrings are between $10 and $15 a pair, by the way, so in my opinion these are some really great deals.


These are some of my absolute favorites. I love beach glass, but being a bit of a nutty perfectionist, I've never actually purchased real beach glass, because the chunks are never perfectly symmetrical. I know, I know, it's part of the charm; it's uniquely shaped by years and decades of tumbling in the ocean. I appreciate that. But like I said, I'm a nut. Anyway, these "frosted glass" earrings and pendants are perfect for me; they have that beautiful, frosted beach glass look, in a smooth, symmetrical shape.


I also love the way the wire is wrapped around them, just around the edges, really showing them off, rather than caging them in.


Another example of gorgeous metal-working. Simple and elegant!


This is lovely; I've always loved marbles, the round smoothness, the small but dense weight, and the glowiness of them, but I never knew what to do with them once I got too old to play with them. This is a beautiful solution!



I just thought these earrings were so striking and sophisticated! I've included a lot of earrings in this post, as they are usually my favorites, but Nicholas and Felice also have a huge selection of beautiful pendants, shawl pins, and other ornaments. This was a really fun shop to browse through and I really enjoyed writing this post.

"Re-investing" my Etsy earnings

I've had a small flurry of sales in my Etsy shop over the last few weeks (yay!). So, of course, I had to go yarn shopping. Online yarn shopping of course. I tell myself that I'm "re-investing" and of course this is true. How will I keep my store stocked if I don't have yarn to make new items, I ask? But really I just like all the pretty colors.

Somehow my order worked out so I got pretty much everything I wanted and left exactly 2 cents in my Paypal account. Two cents! That's good budgeting! So now I've got a nice big box of yarn on the way, and am trying to ignore the fact that I have nowhere to put it when it arrives.

I wish I could take photos like these

I just love these photos from Your Willing Skin on Etsy. I really wish I knew how to take photos like these. But alas, I'll just have to be content with ogling them.


They just capture the golden light so beautifully. The photographer, Eadaoin, also has a lovely blog called City of Blackbirds, with many more gorgeous photos that you can see here.

Hand-painted Glass Magnets to Dress Up Your Fridge

I found these beautiful hand-painted glass magnets in the Etsy shop SunnysWoodnGifts. Definitely a huge step up up from those magnetized business cards and other miscellaneous freebie magnets that are scattered all over my fridge.


The hand-painted image is actually behind the glass (instead of painted on the glass itself), so the magnet is smooth to touch and shiny.

Included in this post are some of my very favorites from Sunny's shop, but she has lots more, so be sure and check out her Etsy shop here.

Prices range from $7 for some of the single magnets, to $14 for some of the sets of 4. Sunny also has wooden key-chains and painted wooden magnets in her shop.


Love these blues!


And just had to include these as well; such great, earthy colors!

Pretty Handmade Earrings for Under $10!

With the economy the way it is, I think we're all looking for deals, all the time. Me, I'm pretty much on a "necessities only" kind of budget, though I do cheat occasionally (ok, maybe more often than occasionally).


These are some very pretty earrings I came across in the Etsy shop jaimiebdesigns. All are on sale from $5 to $8 a pair, so you can add a little bit of color and sparkle and "newness" to your wardrobe without breaking the bank. Jaimie has lots more lovely items in her shop too; you can check it out here.


Speaking of great deals, I'm having a fun giveaway on handmade cell phone cases. It's super-easy to enter, and the winner gets to choose any cell phone case they want from my Etsy shop to be shipped to them, free-of-charge, anywhere in the world. Scroll down, or click here for more info and to enter.