AT Does It Again

I know I've mentioned Apartment Therapy before, but I have to mention them again. It showcases the greatest ideas and cutes tips. Look at this idea for place cards! You can find the whole post here.

Genius!! Cut a cork in half, make a small slit along the top, insert name card. Done! Cheap, easy, quick!!

Etsy!!

Check out my etsy store!

I have a few more items to add, and plan to add items as I complete them. I spent way too much time working on my etsy shop today. I need to take a break, stop by! Buy something!

I Love You, Ronnie

I finished reading this book last week. It was a quick read for in between my book club reads.

I enjoyed this book very much. It contained numerous letters written fby Ronald Reagan to his wife Nancy Reagan with Nancy narrating through out. She explained what was happening while each letter was being written.

Ronald Reagan wrote the sweetest letters to his wife through out their times apart due to conflicting schedules and travelling but the letters also continued even while they were together.

The book ended with Ronald Reagan's public address about his Alzheimer's diagnosis.

It was an extremely honest and heartbreaking ending, but it was a great book.

New Idea

(my first photo attempt...what do you think?!)

So I've been thinking a lot about how to sell things I make. Every one's first response is either craft fairs or etsy.com.

Each has its advantages and disadvantages for me.

Start with craft fairs. Advantages: fun, outdoors, draws a crowd, fun to chat with customers and vendors

Disadvantages: need big inventory, competition with other vendors, not always target market, entry fees, need canopy

Etsy.com. Advantages: cheap fees (20 cents +3.5% per sale), easy, mostly target market, able to choose to shop local, don't need huge inventory, can sell continuously as items are finished

Disadvantages: need the internet, huge amount of sellers to compete against, great pictures are a must, shipping, packaging

SO...I plan on entering the Spring Lake Heritage Festival Craft Fair this June. It's got a realistic entry fee, and I'm hoping I can have some inventory made by the middle of June...however, the Great Hawaiian Escape may interfere with that plan. After the craft fair, I'm going to give etsy.com a try and post all the items that didn't sell at the fair.

Wish me luck!!

The Help

I thoroughly enjoyed The Help By Kathryn Stockett.

I was reading this book every chance I had. Mostly because it is quite a few pages and I needed to make sure I could finish it before May 4th, for the book club, but also because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen with each character.

Each of the 3 characters that is followed through out the book have such strong personalities and qualities, it feels like you really know them. The descriptions of the houses and the weather are so detailed you can almost imagine being there.

Kathryn Stockett did a great job personifying the characters realistically that it felt like non-fiction, she really understood what was happening at that time in Jackson, Mississippi. She created a beautiful story.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Slacking...Again

Maybe I'm not cut out for blogging, maybe my life isn't exciting enough, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to keep up blogging more than once a week. Maybe that's ok.

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Who's excited for Maui??!! I AM!!! After looking at these pictures, how could I not be excited!! I'm so ready for warm weather, and relaxation! And many hours spent right there on that pristine beach!

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These pictures are getting me through the 6 week wait before we actually leave!!

This cute suit is getting me through the 6 weeks of work outs and diets!

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When I started my work out challenge w/ Jess and Ross, my goal was to lose 4 inches and 5 pounds. I'm not sure those numbers really go hand in hand. I find setting a goal in inches is much more realistic for me than setting a weight goal because I see very little change in the number on the scale each week. So far I've lost 2 inches and 1/2 a pound. I think I'll stick with inches! I'm half way to my goal. We skipped a week measuring because life got busy, so I'm hoping to lose more by this Thursday!

Productive Weekend

So the Miranda concert was awesome!! Ross bought me this cute t-shirt in a light pink. White was sold out in my size, and they didn't have black. I would have gotten the black if they had it! The name of Miranda's tour is called Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars. It was fun! It was low key, no costume changes, no fancy set, just good, fun music, and two pink guitars!!

I finished reading the fifteenth book of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb book series. It was a quick and fun read as always! Grandma Mazur has to be my all time favorite character!! I wanted a fun read between my two book club reads because I don't always like to read serious stuff. These Stephanie Plumb books have me laughing out loud. I try to pace myself, so I always have one of her books to read if I need a good laugh. Luckily I still have to read number 16 and the 'between the numbers' novels!

I have started reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett for my book club. It is a long book, I will have to read it at every free moment in order to finish it by May 4th for our meeting, but I am loving it!! The book is told from 3 different points of view, 2 are from maids who work for white women in Mississippi in the 1960's and the 3rd point of view is from a white woman that wants to change things. I'm not very far into, a little over 100 pages (the book is almost 500 pages), but I am already loving the characters and can't wait to see where they take me!

I also got to walk through a house that Mike is looking at buying. I can't believe we are old enough to be home owners!! I hope it's everything he wants it to be!!