Things that Make Me Happy

I haven't posted anything for over a week. I could blame that on the cold that's gripped my sinuses and won't let go. Or maybe I'm a little burned out from blogging. (And I'm anticipating an anxious call from my grandparents wondering when I'll post something next. Sorry guys. . .)

Nah, it's probably the cold, which makes me lazy, which keeps me from blogging. Ya, that's it.

Here are a few things that make me happy lately. . .

Sophie and Ivy love books and love reading together. I love peeking into the living room while I'm making dinner and seeing them like this. It may be the only 5 minutes during the day that someone isn't crying or whining, so I'll take it and be happy. At least they like to read, eh?

A friend of mine gave me this. Every time I look at it it makes me smile. . . and crave bacon. Thanks Kathryn! :)

"Bacon is like a little hug from God". . . why yes, it is.

And no, the newness of my new little toy hasn't worn off yet. People still ask me if I got a new camera -- probably because I wasn't too direct about announcing it. So here's an obligatory "take a picture of myself in a mirror because I have a fancy camera" shot that everyone seems to have.

To answer some questions, it's a Canon 30D. I got it off craigslist (body only) for a 1/3 of what it costs new. And I got a new 50mm 1.8 lens to go with it -- mostly for close up/low-light shots. Perfect for things that sit quietly. Like food. And occasionally my children.

I like this shot, actually. The only parts of me that are clearly visible are also the most slender parts of me. And that camera does a good job of hiding the bags under my eyes. . .

. . . which will soon be gone because Miss Ivy has begun to sleep through the night. We're working on weaning, but I haven't nursed her at night for about a week.

I love Sophie's drunk/falling asleep face.

How could I leave this handsome guy out? He's been really patient with my crabby self lately, and he's to thank for the seven consecutive hours of sleep I've been getting almost every night. (I need to go to bed earlier.) He got up with Ivy a few nights in a row, and kept trying despite Ivy's best efforts to duck from his grasp and holler for mama.

And I have complete faith that he'll find the remote control to the DVD player so we can watch Chuck on TV instead of on my computer.

On Ants and Sugar Scrub

The thing about posting every single day is that I run out of things (or photos) to post about. It's only day 7, and I'm about to tell you about ants. Ants. Despite how it sounds, ants are a popular topic around here.

But I'm also going to tell you about about sugar scrub and a sweet Etsy friend named Janell, so hopefully this will give my post some redemptive qualities.

Here's what happened. . .

Nat likes Janell.

Nat likes Janell's shop.

Janell starts selling sugar scrubs in her shop.

Photo from Janell's shop (hope you don't mind I swiped it :))

Nat likes sugar scrubs.

Nat buys a bottle.

Nat puts the sugar scrub in the shower.

Meanwhile . . .

Nat's house is full of ants.

Nat kills ants.

Steve kills ants.

Sophie says, "Ant on arm! Ant on arm!"

Nat killed two ants on Ivy just today.

Ants love sugar.

Sugar scrub has lots of sugar.

Ants find sugar scrub.

Those ants are dead.

Steve added water to the pink cup.

None have come back.

Tonight . . .

Sophie also loves sugar.

Sophie finds sugar scrub.

Sophie eats sugar scrub.

Sugar scrub is no longer in the shower.

The End.

Floral Mistress

I'm so excited that one of my best friends has joined the Etsy train. She just opened up a shop showcasing her floral arrangements and I wanted to share. These aren't just ordinary arrangements, either. They're made from high quality silk flowers and gorgeous vases. (By the way, I didn't even know she did this until a couple of weeks ago. We really need to get together more often, Stace. :))

Here's the link to her shop: Floral Divine

And here are some of my fav's:

Black Velvet

Tuscan Romance

Eastern Sky

Announcements

1. If you haven't noticed, I added an "Email subscription" box to the side panel. Some of you use feed readers like Google Reader (my favorite), so you won't need this. For the rest of you who are still manually clicking on all of your friends' blogs to check for updates, I really, really, hope you start using a feed reader. It will change your life and save you a LOT of time. But if you still refuse, you can receive updates from here by email and it will save you a click.

2. I also took off the link to my Etsy store. I've spread myself pretty thin the last few months and my store has been frighteningly neglected. Running an Etsy store successfully takes a lot of time and attention -- both of which I'm short of. I quit making things and started posting more vintage items I picked up at estate sales, but then I quit going to estate sales.

So, I've decided to let my items expire (they expire 4 months from the post date), and maybe close the store after that. Learning to make jewelry was a fun little hobby that kept me busy for a while, but now I don't need another reason to be busy. I'll keep my supplies and make things here and there, but I won't be selling anything online.

If anyone wants anything from my store, just email me. I'll knock 50% off the clearance items and 75% off everything else. Instead of making you go through an Etsy transaction, I'll simply pull it out and give it to you. If you live far away, I'd be happy to mail it. Shipping is a flat $3.00.

Here's what's left... by the way, this group of pics isn't a link. Click HERE to go to the store. I'll leave a little reminder on the side panel where my Etsy gadget used to be.

One More Giveaway

I'm doing another giveaway! I signed up for this one over a month ago, and I sort of forgot about it until last week. :)

This one is hosted by I Love Giveaways. It's a newer giveaway site organized by an incredibly nice woman named Robyn. This one won't have nearly the volume of entrants as the last one did (It got up to about 880... WOW.), so if you enter, your chances of winning are better.

I'm giving away a $30 gift certificate to my Etsy store. All you have to do is go here and leave a comment saying what your favorite item in my store is!

Happy Monday everyone!

Another Giveaway!

I'm doing another giveaway at Bloggy Giveaways! This time it's for a $50 gift certificate, so go check it out and enter! Giveaway closes on the 25th of Feb. (By the way, you leave comments THERE this time instead of on my blog. Although I always love it when someone says hi.)

I just read the write-up that Shannon did about me . . . well, about "them". From the way she describes my shop it sounds like I have employees. Ha.

And the Winner is . . .

Using my trusty random number generator, it pulled up 80. Comment #80 belongs to.....

CHRISTINE who said, "I HeART that Vintage Rhoda ring... PReTty!!"

Congrats Christine!

Thanks to everyone who entered and for all the nice things you said! I didn't realized I'd get so many entries... 289. WOW!

If you'd like another chance to win, I'll be doing a couple more giveaways during the next two months:

Feb 21st: $50 gift certificate at Bloggy Giveaways
Mar 10th: $30 gift certificate at I Love Giveaways

Just a reminder, I'm still offering free shipping to all of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival participants. Enter "CARNIVAL" in the comment section when you check out There are also specials going on during February!

Adjustments and Attachments

This may come as a surprise to most of you, but I had my very first chiropractic adjustment today. You may remember how I confessed that I was afraid of chiropractors. Well, I decided that just wouldn't do. I'd be an embarrassment to Steve, not to mention the laughing stock of my street aka "chiropractor row".

I was in a car accident last month, and after a month of postponing an appointment (while mentally psyching myself up to it), I figured now was a good time to overcome my fear.

Steve thought a NUCCA chiropractor would be good because their adjustments are more gentle than regular ones. I found a female NUCCA chiropractor in Oakland and had some x-rays done last week. I went in this morning for my first adjustment. She had me lie on my side on the table and as she positioned her hands on my neck, I thought to myself,

"Lord, let me be calm and please keep me from wincing, screaming, thrashing, and/or crying."

After a second or two she took her hands off me.

"Was that it?" I asked.

"Yep, that's it. I just have to do it seven or eight more times."

There were no sudden movements or jerks or anything. Just constant, gentle pressure. Wow. I'd go to a chiropractor everyday if it felt like that. My neck feels looser now, but I still have a few adjustments left before I'm straightened out.

On a completely unrelated note, I sold this necklace a few minutes ago:

I LOVE this necklace. I got it at the very first estate sale I went to. It's from the 30s, and I've been tempted to keep it for myself since I put it in my store. I was planning on keeping it if I hadn't sold it by Valentine's Day.

Well, it didn't make it. I love it when I sell things, but there were a few pieces that I really hated to part with. This is probably the hardest one so far.

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival

****COMMENTS CLOSED!!****

Welcome to my giveaway! I'm giving away a $15 gift certificate towards anything in my Etsy store. All you have to do is leave a comment below. One comment per person please! I'll draw a winner on Saturday, Feb 2nd at 8AM PST, and I'll post it here, as well as send that person an email. Comments will close Feb 1st at midnight PST.

Most of the jewelry in my store is handmade by me. There are also vintage items, so go take a look! Click on the banner above to see the entire store.


Also, I'm offering free shipping to all participants in the carnival! Just enter the code: CARNIVAL in the comment section when you check out. Offer good through February 29.

Fine print, blah blah blah, but still important...
1. I will cover shipping costs within US and Canada.
2. Make sure I have your email address or blog URL.
3. If the winner doesn't respond to my email within 3 days, I will choose another winner.

Front Page Mama

I have some exciting news! :)

Starting this week, I'm one of the weekly contributors to Posh Mama Online Magazine! Every Tuesday I'll be doing a food/cooking article for the front page of the website.

What's Posh Mama? It's an online magazine/social network for women. I joined last summer when I was looking for places to market my Etsy store. Since then I've met some great women, found some neat discussion groups, and managed to snag some jewelry sales in the process. Now that I'm a weekly contributor, my picture will be up on the left-hand sidebar, permanently, with the others. A little scary. The website is fairly new, but it already averages about 10k hits a month. Hopefully that will drive more traffic to my store :)

My first article went up this morning! If you want to see it, go to PoshMama.com and let me know what you think. It might have turned out a little "cheesy" (ha).

My Adoption Agency

This morning I received feedback from a lady I sold a bracelet (and a pair of earrings) to a few weeks ago. She bought it for her daughter, who she said loves it and has worn it almost daily since she received it. It makes me really happy to know that someone loves something I made!

When I made a pair of earrings or a bracelet, I don't just throw things together and think, "Hopefully SOMEONE will like this." I put a lot of thought into it, and if I don't like the end result, I take it apart and keep working on it until I'm satisfied with it. Everything in my shop is something I would wear personally. Consequently it makes sales a little bittersweet. On one hand I'm glad that I made a few bucks to put toward buying more supplies, but on the other hand it's sad to see my "babies", who I grew attached to, get sent off in the mail somewhere.

That's why I love getting comments back saying how much a piece is loved. I feel better knowing it was sent to a good home. :)