Friday Favorites (on Saturday)

1. Gorgeous necklace on Etsy.



















2. Pink Sugar perfume. You know how when you order online from Sephora they send you a bunch of little samples? Well, Pink Sugar was one of the samples I got when I ordered my Bare Minerals a year ago. I loved it so much, I've been rationing it for the last year and then suddenly started wearing it everyday this week. You know you're broke when you start shopping for discounted perfume on Ebay.

















3. The low-ish calorie cocktail I just invented and am currently drinking. Fresh pineapple and banana, diet 7-up, a tiny bit of coconut extract and rum. I like it so much, I invited Shanna over from Arkansas to share in the festivities (there aren't really any festivities) but she's unable to make it in the next hour.

Deep Thoughts

Now that I've been a part-time retail sales associate making just above minimum wage for a few weeks, I feel totally qualified to share some of my profound workplace observations. Make no mistake, I'm really enjoying working and the whole idea of avoiding financial ruin is nice too. But I can't help but find humor in comparing my current job to my former career.

Employers---
Don't include any Cheetah Girls songs in your business' musical line up. A small part of your employee's soul will die when she hears "One World" every night at approximately 8:00pm. The same can be said for the Bubblegum song.

If you're going to have your 17 year old, high school senior supervisor train the 30 year old former Human Resources Manager, you might want to give them some kind of heads up beforehand. In doing so, you can prevent the awkwardness involved with the child telling the elder that she's doing a great job and really picking up everything quickly and then asking the elder if this is her first job.

Oprah says 50 is the new 30, not 30 is the new 50. Thirty seems awfully young to be the oldest employee.

Employees---
Don't ask me if I want candy from the machine every time you go to break. Yes, the offer is nice but I don't enjoy having to say no while you stare at me in disbelief and I silently (or sometimes out loud) remind myself that I'm the fattest I've ever been.

Customers---
Don't tell me mid-transaction that you think some humans have super powers that are left untapped because we live in a society where everyone has to fit "in the box". My mind will stumble and then I'll have to figure out what I've already scanned and what's left to scan.

If you're an 8 year old girl shopping with a friend and no parent in sight, don't offer me $5 for $7 socks. At first, when you offer to "trade me" the $5 for the $7 socks, I'll think it's cute. Then when you get an attitude and try to force me to take the $5, I'll have to resist the urge to put you in the naughty spot.

Don't spend 45 minutes walking through the store gathering 20 items of clothing and then stuff them somewhere random. Just bring the pile to the counter and tell me you suddenly got diarrhea and have to leave or your super powers told you someone needs to be saved. I'll understand.

Back at it

Birthday party and retreat prep are over. House guests have all gone home. It's time to get back into a routine. A routine that involves sewing with a cranky two year old, working part-time nights and weekends, and finding time for myself. Oh, and also continuing to feed my addiction to the wii fit. Everyone here is in my face crying right now but I'm going to ignore it and plug along.

Listed not one, but two bags this afternoon. I love, love, love this first one! I had totally forgotten that I bought this fabric from Jona almost two months ago. See what fun things you can find when you clean and organize!























This second bag is "not quite perfect". The snap is slightly off center. I'm not really sure what happened. I did enjoy two refreshing margaritas last night but I don't drink and sew so I can't blame the booze. Anyway, I listed it at the chipper-chicken price so if you love it, there's a good deal to be had. I just realized "chipper-chicken" is something that Steve and I say that will make no sense to anyone else but I'm going to leave it and let you wonder where the phrase came from.

Best Weekend Ever!

This past weekend was the ultimate scrapbooking retreat weekend that I mentioned here a few months ago. 10 scrappers in a beach house for three days, most of us meeting in person for the very first time. I finally got to meet Kristi, Keeley, Shana, and Shanna and was lucky enough to have Shanna stay with me at home for a few extra nights. I know it probably sounds weird to some people, but after chatting online regularly with some of these ladies for several years, I felt like we knew each other as well as we would have if we had seen each other in person all this time. No weirdness or uncomfortable moments, just a lot of fun.






















































I was especially sad to see Shanna go after getting to spend extra time with her. Bella had grown quite attached to her and even cried at the airport yesterday! Shanna and I have been chatting in instant messenger pretty much every morning Monday-Friday for about two years now. My morning routine is always the same...slowly drinking my coffee while chatting with Shanna. Sometimes we talk about important stuff like money issues, child rearing, an argument with our husband. And other times, we (ok, me) just share embarrassing stories or talk about nothing at all. It was so nice to see that the rest of the Crafty Family loves her as much as I do...Crafty Papa even took her out on the town for what seemed like a first date except that I was in the car too! Anyway, I really do feel immensely grateful that I got to meet Shanna in person finally and had a really hard time at the airport. Today, I'm trying to focus on how much fun I had with her and how she really is a great friend (even if it isn't the traditional type of friendship) instead of thinking about how I had to send her back to Arkansas yesterday and won't see her again for a long while. She was really easy to be around and I just felt like I could completely be myself with her. Not everyone gets to find a friend like that.























Lastly, I designed these cute owl t-shirts for the retreat and ordered extras because I thought they were too cute not to share. You can find them in my shop.

Brace Yourself

I'm going to be honest, I don't even think the before pictures show just how bad it was. I have all of this great storage with the high top tables and shelves and the closet organizer, I just can't seem to get my lazy self to use it. But now that I'm on a mission to impress my friend, Beth, I'll make extra effort.

So, here's before...






































































And after. Some of the changes are subtle. Notice how organized the wall racks are now. And the under table shelves. I purged a 13 gallon trash bag and a laundry basket that's over flowing. I bet now you're wishing you would have brought me that frozen yogurt like I requested. I totally deserve a reward.

To go with my new shoes

I really should keep this one, don't you think? It goes perfectly with my shoes and I really do like the size and shape. And just for Marie, shorter straps which are at pre-"breastfed two children for a year each" boob level. Lets just say, that's a few inches higher than normal boob level. The zippered hobo bag may have gotten the best of me for now but I think this is a good alternative, don't you think? I listed it, but I might have to check it out in the mirror with my new red shoes later so if you want it, get it now.







































Crafty Papa is going to be out for most of the night tonight so I've assigned myself the major task of cleaning my craft room. Like, really cleaning it. Not just shoving everything into the closet or under the table. I need to purge. There's just too much yarn, fabric, paper...everything. So, I think if it's been sitting here longer than six months, it has to go. It's bad in here. Like, bad, bad, bad. I'm going to take before and after pics and post them here tonight which will be highly embarrassing and shameful but maybe it's the motivation I need. I also need a movie to watch on the desktop while I work. But, I don't live "in town" and driving in and back to get one will take up a half hour and require that I get out of my pj's. So, one of you can pick up a movie for me and drop if off along with some fat free frozen yogurt.

New Stuff

I haven't had a very successful sewing week. First off, Matea not napping is really messing with my schedule. When Bella gave up her nap, I could still get her to hang out in her bed and rest and read books. Matea, not so much. On top of that, I've been messing with a zippered hobo bag for a few weeks and am finally admitting defeat. I just can't get it right. I've read online tutorials and even bought a pattern and I still can't get it. My attempt is now sitting next to me in the trash can and I'm just going to forget about it for now and move on.

After an ice cream bribe, I got the girls to occupy themselves for a bit this afternoon so I could work on this bag. I'm really liking this style and I think the size is super versatile.























A few of you have emailed me asking about my new job. I started on Monday and actually had a lot of fun (Carters has some of the cutest kids clothes - I love looking at all of the bright colors and fun prints). The only down side was that my feet were KILLING ME when I got home. Think nine months pregnant, post-grocery trip ankles. You know, when it feels like they're just going to explode with pressure. Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and spend a big chunk of my soon-to-come first paycheck on a pair of nice shoes. I was prepared to pay $100+ but got lucky and found these on clearance for $30!

















How cute are they?! I'll tell you. So cute that I also bought them in silver. Honestly though, I think good shoes are going to be a necessity with this job so I don't even feel guilty. I did my homework so I didn't base my decision solely (get it? shoes - soles....solely) on cuteness. These are Privo which is a division of Clarks so, cute and orthopedically superior.