I hate you, Forever 21

So, I am soooo grumpy, disappointed, and generally in a panic right now. I was so excited all day at work because I knew my dresses would be waiting for me to try on and decide which one to wear to the wedding tomorrow.

Neither one fits.

Its really strange, because I ALWAYS wear a medium. All of my Forever21 clothes are size Medium (and believe me, that's a LOT of clothes), and both of these dresses were WAYYY too small. As in, I couldn't even zipper them up AN INCH.

As puzzling as it is, I'm not worried THAT much - I can, of course, just return them the next time I go to Annapolis (which will probably be very soon). The thing that has me in a panic is that the wedding is tomorrow. What an I going to wear?!

My only solution at this [very last] moment is to head over to the closest mall (yuck) and pray to god that I find something at Charlotte Russe or maybe *sigh* the Bon Ton. Our mall is so crappy. The only mall that's even worth my time going to is the Annapolis mall and that's....2 hours away. Totally out of the question. I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't find a suitable dress tonight.

(I know, I make it sound like I have no clothes. Its not that. I just don't have that many dresses that are NOT BLACK and are suitable to wear to a wedding. Especially a Cinderella-and-generally-princess-y wedding). It especially sucks because both of the dresses from Forever21 are sooo pretty, and princess-y, and I know Heather (bride) would appreciate the princess-y-ness (look at me creating words left and right!) of them. Sigh.

Oh! And to put the icing on the cake, I totally forgot I ordered another little casual jumper-dress with anchors on it....and I don't like it, either. Its more like a glorified tank top than a dress, like how it appeared online. Sigh. I just totally struck out with this shopping.

Today

So, I'm getting ready for work today... I really don't want to go. I'm so tired. But, alas, I'm also poor, so I must work my eight hours today. Sigh.

At least I have these to look forward to:

According to the UPS tracking site, they should be delivered today. I'll be wearing one of them to my friend Heather's wedding tomorrow; I'm just not sure which one. I think probably the blue one, because the theme of her wedding is Cinderella (yes.), and the blue one reminds me of Cinderella's blue dress. I'm mad though, because I just saw on the Forever21 site that the blue one is now on sale! I just ordered it a few days ago! That's not fair. I think I'll be calling customer service on that one.

I also wanted to share this amazing project I found last night (via ) by Yeondoo Jung. Check this out. Here's my favorite shot:

Etsy Love

I was searching for a camera case on Etsy yesterday (since I can't seem to find mine); and I came across this shop with the most lovely and useful bags. The best part is they're custom-made with the fabric of your choice, and the prices are amazing!

I instantly fell in love with this one.

Image borrowed from The Laughing House's etsy shop

This is the fabric my bag will be made in:

Image borrowed from her Flickr

I'm so excited! I think this is probably the coolest bag I've seen on Etsy. I can't wait to get it!

I also ordered another graphic novel on Amazon this morning. This and the one I ordered yesterday will be my first forays into graphic novels... I like the idea of picture books for adults.

And now, I must be off. I have to make a quick stop at the post office this morning and send out a few packages before heading to work. Have a lovely Thursday, everyone!

Would you believe...

I volunteered myself to work today? *shakes head* Today would have been yet another day off from work... but I offered myself to work 11-7 today. Bleh. Actually, it is a good thing because I'll actually get PAID this week then, haha. But still... I'd so much rather spend my day out in the garden, where I'm desperately needed to pull out some weeds.

Oh well. At least I already had (too much) fun this morning - I was catching up on some blog-reading and came across this post from Ashley. I became intrigued and simply had to order book #1 for myself! Anyway, it was on Amazon for only $4.50 (used). You just can't beat the Amazon 'used' prices. I also ordered a few more blank moleskines, so there will be some new journals in the shop in the near future.

Best Day!

Oh man. I am having the best day today! Actually, both yesterday and today were pretty awesome...

Yesterday, while my sister was simply taking a stroll through our yard, she spotted some things that looked curiously like cherries lying on the ground under a big tree that has been growing in our yard for, oh I don't know, eight or nine years.

She called me over from my veggie patch (where I was picking fresh cilantro, yum!) to see what I thought they were. I thought, surely, they can't be cherries. Why, we don't even have a cherry tree in our yard! So... I ate one. Hehe. And guess what. They are cherries, indeed! I'm quite sure that a bird planted this cherry tree (if you know what I mean...), and also that the tree has never had cherries on it before this year! I am sooo excited! They're the little, tart, pinkish kind of cherries, too, which I actually prefer. Oh, they are delicious!

My sister also informed me yesterday that we have wild strawberries (itty bitty!), mulberries, and raspberries (I knew that...we have them all over the yard!)! Isn't that just awesome?! And that's just what's growing wild in our yard. As soon as my little vegetable garden is ready, we'll also have yellow squash; green, red, and yellow bell peppers, broccoli (some is sprouting now!), and tomatoes; and we already have sweet basil, lavender, lemon balm, cilantro, marjoram, chocolate mint, and spearmint. Whew! I told my dad last night the only thing we need now is a chicken or two so we can have fresh eggs! Then I will be peachy-keen-perfect!

Oh yeah, and guess what else. I was doing a bit of promoting in the Etsy forums last night (something I haven't really done much of in the past because it seems like the Promotions section is nothing but 'games' and gimmicks...not exactly my style); but apparently it paid off because my red stripey dress sold overnight! Woo hoo! I'm excited, but sad to see it going (even though it didn't fit me) because its so pretty.... but I'm glad someone else can love it and wear it!

Oh yeah, and one other thing - I just got done talking to Kristy from Dulcet about my vintage cat eye glasses I ordered that were too small for my head. She is wonderful! I was getting worried because I had convo'd her last week about doing an exchange and hadn't heard back yet. I re-sent the message this afternoon, and (as I suspected) the system 'ate' her convos to me and I was worrying over nothing. She said she already has the other pair packaged up and ready to be mailed to me! And, even though they're a few dollars more expensive than the original ones, she said we'll call it even since I have to pay for the shipping back to her. I thought that was really nice of her. I am pleased as punch!

Oh! Haha! I just thought of something else good that happened today. I mentioned to one of my supervisors how crappy my work schedule has been lately (I was only schedule to work 3 days this week!) and she literally handed me the schedule book and said, "What?! Pencil yourself in whenever you want to work. I'm giving you hours." Peggy, you rock! So hopefully now I'll actually be getting money in my paycheck, instead of barely even breaking even for the week! Haha!

PS - some new stuff

In both journal and card form...

Mail time!

Chris and I made our way down to the junkyard earlier today. It was oh-so-satisfying to literally hurl the junk out of the back of the van and 'lighten our load'!

I'm hoping next weekend will be Round 2...to be continued!

*******

When we arrived back at home, I ran out to the mailbox to see if I had received anything exciting, and....what to my wondering eyes should appear?

2 lovely packages! Hooray!

The mailing label on the first package was a dead-giveaway as to who the sender was:

What treasures awaited me inside?

Why, its Scuppernong and Muscadine, along with the prettiest of postcards and a sweet little house button! I was so pleased to see The Button Collector turned into a little 'thank you' - see how she matches my blanket so? She's just meant to hang on my wall!

Thanks, Emily - Scuppernong and Muscadine was every bit as wonderful as I had imagined!

But what was in the second package?

That, my friends, is a secret surprise.... something for the shop, perhaps?

Hmmm.....what wonders await?!

The "Filth Factory"

So, I told you my dad and I spent the weekend cleaning out the basement (aka the Filth Factory; thanks Chris for that nice name). We finished up ONE CORNER of the basement last night around 9:30, and this is what I have to take to the dump today:

See, my dad has this little *problem* with keeping boxes.... as in, he'll keep empty boxes for 10 years. Yeah. Empty packages. I'd say 99% of the boxes I'm taking to the dump today (recycling!) are empty computer boxes. My dad has been building/upgrading our computers since 1992, and probably hasn't thrown out a single box since then. He just keeps them...in a corner of the basement. It was hilarious because as we were going through all of the piles of junk, it became more and more clear that it was all HIS junk! So ha!

And, as I said, this is only from ONE CORNER of the basement. There are actually other ROOMS to go through down there. I think this is a summer-long project. But at least we've gotten the ball rolling.

*******

In other news, I just listed an awesome vintage dress in the shop. My mom bought it for me a few weeks ago, and sadly its too small in the *chest area*. Sigh.

Paper Goods Showcase - 6/23

Check me out in the Paper Goods Showcase over at Etsy on Monday...

Let's hope that brings some sales into the shop!

The Summer of Cleaning

I don't know what's going on around here lately, but I like it..... it seems my entire family is in an enormous cleaning frenzy....which is definitely a good thing. My dad and I spent the morning down in the our dank and dingy basement, sweeping, sorting, and cleaning. We haven't even begun to make a dent, but unfortunately I have to go to work this evening at 5:00 (5-9, the most pointless shift EVER!). I am off work tomorrow, though, so we'll be down there probably all day tomorrow. Whew! We loaded up the van with a bunch of junk to take to the junkyard. I can't wait to get back down there tomorrow and do it some more. Its such a satisfying feeling to clean and organize (at least to me)!

I received my cat-eye glasses from Dancing Girl Press today, although they're unfortunately about a half-inch smaller than what the description of the listing had said. I double-checked the measurements and they're definitely a full half-inch shorter than what I had expected. I have a pretty small head, but these are way too tiny even for me. They don't even reach across my eyes. I'm pretty bummed, but I did email Kristy from the shop to see if I could exchange them for a different pair. I'm just awaiting her response. I think I like these...and these.

In shop-news, I've been meaning to go through and take some better pictures of some of the older items in my shop. I like shops that have a 'uniform' look to their listings.... similar backgrounds and lighting for all of the items. I think it really looks nice, and you can almost just picture walking into a brick-and-mortar shop. So I took some pictures today, made some new and improved listings, and brought back some older stock that I need to clear out. Part of my 'clean and refresh' goal for this summer is to clean up around the shop and head in a more clear direction with what I'm selling. I'm even thinking about maybe opening a second shop for my vintage finds (seems to be all the rage right now anyway)... so we'll see how that goes.

Hm. I'm feeling really out of sorts these past few days. Thursday night, around midnight, I got a phone call from my best friend Lani..... to tell me she had just been in a car accident, in her nice new (to her) car. She and her brother (whom was driving) are fine, besides some bumps and bruises; but I just feel so terrible for her. She was so proud of herself for buying her very own car, and getting her license (she's from the Philippines so it was a big deal for her), and then her car gets wrecked only a month after she got it. I'm just so glad she's ok!!

Other stuff just has me all in a jumble, too... like the fact that Chris was told he would hear from the Bedford Gazette either Thursday or today if he got the job. He didn't hear from them. My two younger sisters have each come down with some mysterious fever-cold thing in the past few days...I really hope I don't get it too.

I don't know. I just feel really...out of whack. Or totally whacked. One or the other. Or both.

The Whale and the Sea

I doodled this the other night and I couldn't stop thinking about how lovely it would look on some crisp, white notecards. My big box of gocco supplies came in the mail today from this wonderful shop; so I set out to make a set of cards. Except.... the cardstock I had was a little too narrow and it kept messing up the master. Oh, and my gocco pen is running out of ink so the first master I made wasn't dark enough and looked horrible. Bleh. Oh well, I'm still new at this and I'm learning.

Anyway, I love this little whale so much, I searched frantically for something to print him all over. At last, I came up with an extra copy of The Old Man and the Sea (yes, I have multiple copies. It happens to be my favorite book). So I experimented with a few different color combinations, and this is what I came up with. I especially like the black with red coral.

I'd still really like to do a few prints on some notecards, but for now, these have kept me occupied for most of the afternoon. Both color combos are available in the shop.

Mirror, Mirror

I scored this awesome mirror at the Goodwill last week for $6. I've been searching for picture frames similar to this, with no luck. But I never dreamed I'd find a mirror like this, especially for that price! The only problem was that it was hideously painted - gold with black painted over it. Very 80's. So I got out the ol' white spray paint, and voila - most perfect mirror ever.

Before

After

Things that are keeping me awake...

I don't know what it is, but I have been keeping myself awake at night thinking of new projects. I am like a one-stop Inspiration Station this week! Its ridiculous! I can go for a month without being creatively inspired, and then one morning I wake up and I run over to my desk to grab a piece of paper and start scribbling the ideas I (literally) dreamt up. That has happened just about every day this week.

I have all sorts of projects tucked up my sleeve right now. I'm just gathering my supplies (and wits) about me, and I plan on cranking out some super-exciting new stuff in the next week or two. I just put in an order from this shop, recommended to me by sweet Miss Marjorie, for a bunch of Gocco supplies, including some fabric inks. Huzzah!

It seems like I had bunches of other stuff to tell you here, but suddenly I'm very sleepy...and I can't remember what it was. Hmm.

In the event when I have no idea what it was I wanted to say, I shall simply leave you with a little snippet of my Economics notes from last semester... how about a few edge-dwelling whale?

Goodnight!

Mine, all mine!!

Oh yeahhh.... I totally snagged those blue cat-eye glasses from Dulcet. And thankfully, in case I get them and I look like an idiot, they accept returns. Yesss! :D

I also grabbed up one of these adorable little comics from Miss Emily.... totally sweet. I was sad when I noticed there weren't any left in the shop tonight, when suddenly one appeared! And for only $6, quite a steal for such a whole lot of cuteness!

In other news, my car wouldn't start today. Hmph. Luckily my dad spent a few hours this evening figuring it out, and its something fairly simple and inexpensive (about $40), so that's good. Its probably going to be until Tuesday or Wednesday next week until he can get the part, however, so it looks like I'll be borrowing my mama's van all weekend or bumming rides to work with my sister! Oh well, it could be worse.

And now, I'm off to bed. I have another *exciting* day at work tomorrow. Hehe.

Goodnight!

Hmm...its payday....

You know what payday means? It means I'm soooo tempted to buy all of the nice things I've been spying on Etsy!

Lately I find myself daydreaming about what my future house will look like, and all of the lovely things that could fill it. So, here are a few lovelies from Etsy that I would decorate my house (or my self) with:

These adorable light-blue cateye glasses from Wicked Pen.... I've been wanting a pair, and these are smaller than the others, so they'd probably fit my tiny little head...hmmm..... If they're still in the shop tonight when I get home from work (and, ahem, depositing my paycheck!), I will understand it to be a sign that I NEED these.

Ok, so I don't have my own kitchen at the moment...but someday I will! And I will need these, for sure!

I need this for my kitchen, too.

And this cashmere pillow would look so pretty on my someday-couch...

And this little guy will surely look so sweet on my front porch, right beside his green cousin!

This is supposed to be a toy box, but I think it would be pretty cool as a shoe bench, or to hold linens, or something....

More stuff for my kitchen...

And of course, I just plain love this!

So, there you have it. Those are just a few of the many, many things I've been peeping in on now and again. Now, where is that paycheck....? ;)

♥ ♥ ♥

New things...

New crafty projects...

New family members...

New blooms....

I hope you're all having a lovely beginning to your week!

Garden-y Things

Yesterday I dug up basically everything in my garden and...rearranged. It looks worlds better now. I wish I had taken 'before' pictures, but I didn't; so here's the 'after':

I just had too many tall plants; and they were just growing all over the garden. So I dug them up, planted them in groups, and kind of better planned where the plants would be. I also moved my enormous Lemon Balm plant over to the veggie/herb patch, which cleared up a bunch of space. I gave my mom a bunch of the ground cover (in the very bottom of the above picture), and planted a few new plants my grandma gave me. All-in-all, I'm very pleased.
I was visited by a tiny friend!


One tiny yellow rosebud is peeking through...

I also re-discovered my mom's huge peony bush on the other side of the house. I never go to that side of the house....its really strange. I guess because its the driveway side of the house, and I don't park in the driveway (I have my own little gravel parking spot near the front of the house). So anyway, when I found the peonies, I was so happy! I think they're my absolute favorite flower.

I picked the only one that was in full bloom yesterday and put it in a vase. Today there was another one fully open, and the others will probably be open by tomorrow. This vase is sitting beside me on my desk; and it makes me insanely happy.

Refresh

That's my goal for this week: Refresh! I have been in a "spring-cleaning" mode for the past week. I just felt like it was time to go through everything, get organized, and cleanse my surroundings. I feel so refreshed when I spruce up my place. I'm not really getting rid of too much... mostly I'm packing away my 'things' (read: decorative junk that takes up space) from my room. I love them, I just don't need them in my tiny room. Someday when I move out again, I will have enough stuff to fill an entire house. But for now, I have one tiny room.

And its already filled.

So far, everything's going well. Its just very overwhelming. We're pulling everything out of the shed, going through it, putting it in piles: "keep", "donate", "trash"; then tomorrow we're going to organize the "keeps", donate the "donates", and...well, you get the idea.

In the midst of my cleaning, I came across some bins full of clothes I didn't want anymore. I picked out a handful of things that will be just perfect for.....a secret project for the shop! I won't say too much, but I will hint that this little guy may be involved in some way.... Hmmm.....

I also found some of my vintage heels that I've collected in the past few years.

How freakin' great are these?

Now, I'm definitely not saying this is a good thing (please, don't think I'm into furs + leather. Ew. No.); but these are really alligator skin. I didn't even realize it when I bought them. I just liked the shape and the pattern. It wasn't until I got them home that I read the inside of the shoe and saw that they were real alligator leather. But anyway, they're vintage. I got them at the Goodwill for $3. I did a search one time on Ebay for the brand (they're called Shenanigans), but I can't find any info about the brand now. If anyone knows anything, I'd be interested in the history so i could figure out how old these shoes are.

I also found these, and because they're about a half-size too small for me, they are now available in le shop. They're super cute and pretty comfortable, and cheap!!

These are NOT real reptile skin...they are 100% Vegan-friendly!