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!!

TGIF!

Seriously, could not be happier that it is Friday!! We had a light dusting of snow this morning, I'm so over snow. But I'm hearing 60's for Saturday and Sunday. I'm ready!!

No big plans tonight, Ross and I are suppose to get together with another couple who we haven't seen since last September! No reason for not keeping in touch, just life I suppose, they actually only live a couple of blocks away from my apartment. So it will be nice to see them!

Speaking of apartment, one of the girls who lives in my building got all 4 of her tires slashed yesterday, and the guy she is seeing had his slashed too. She was parked in the back lot and he was parked on the street in front of the building. They were definitely targeted, we just don't know by who. I am banking on it being her ex-boyfriend, but she thinks it is the group of people who live above her in our building. She called the cops and accused the group above her, so we'll see where it goes. I hope my tires are safe!!

This is where I will be tomorrow night!!! I am pretty excited! We have floor seats and they were reasonably priced. The concert is in Kalamazoo, so we plan on eating on the way down there and making an evening out of it. I forced Ross to come with us and paid for his ticket, but I know he'll have fun. Concerts are always fun! We are going with Jessica and Mark, and they are both in love with Miranda as much as I am. I hope Ross gets on board!!

The big black rectangle on the 300 red square is us!!! Should be great seats and a great time!!

Enjoy the weekend!

Reading List 2010

I attended my first ever book club yesterday evening. It was a small group of 5, but we still had a great discussion. I'm really glad I decided to go, and look forward to next month's meeting!

We complied a list of books to read for the rest of 2010, we each picked two books. I picked probably the fluffiest of all of them (I like fun, easy reads!!!). I picked The Help and Have a Little Faith, I hope they are good!

I thought I'd make a list of all of our picks on here so if anyone is looking for a new book to read these are some options, and this way I will always have a copy of the list!

May: The Help By: Kathryn Stockett

June: Same Kind of Different As Me By: Ron Hall and Denver Moore

July: The Great Divorce By: C.S. Lewis

August: Home Safe By: Elizabeth Berg

September: A Wrinkle In Time By: Madeleine L'Engle

October: 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days By Dean Karnazes

November: Letters From a Skeptic By: Gregory A Boyd and Edward K Boyd

December: Have a Little Faith By: Mitch Albom

The Weight of Heaven

I read this book for a book club I am going to try out. The book club is being put on by a group in my church. I went to another event held by the same group, 'the not so youth group', group and it was a horrible experience. It was a game night, and everyone there was complaining about their spouse, or kids, or being pregnant. I could not relate, and I was extremely irritated and annoyed listening to all of the negativity. I decided the group was not for me.

Then I got an email inviting me to join their book club. I'm thinking it will be a group of different people, some may be the same, but hopefully there will be some other people to even out the group. I decided I would read the book and if I liked it, I would check out the book club meeting.

The first meeting is tonight at 7:30 and I will be going. This book was amazing. The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar was fantastic. I've never read a book quite like this one. Thrity Umrigar is an Indian woman, she wrote this book about an American couple who moved to India when the husband had the opportunity to transfer there for work.

It is an amazing story of loss, hope, love, despair, and irony. I really enjoyed it. I am hoping by joining the book club, I will be introduced to many more great books that I normally wouldn't read on my own, and I will fit in with the group a little better than I did at game night!

Happy Easter (Early)

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I am a lucky girl! I get to take the afternoon off work today to enjoy the mid 70 degree weather we are having, and I also have tomorrow off in honor of Good Friday. Beautiful!!

Blogging every day is a challenge, I don't always have something worthwhile to say. Sorry!

I hope you all have a Happy Easter! I'll be playing the hand bells at church bright and early Sunday morning, then have two big dinners to enjoy, yum!

I hope you enjoy this picture of an Easter Cactus Flower. I have one of these, but mine does flower...at least it hasn't yet. So I'll just look at this picture and pretend it's mine!

Windows Down Weather

I wish I had an update on my table, unfortunately it is still not complete. The stools are upholstered and painted and complete, but the table still needs paint in a few spots. I'm hoping to finish painting it today, and I will have it home by Friday, fully dry and functional. I can't wait!!


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In the mean time I will be enjoying this amazing windows down weather! Good thing too since my car heater is on the fritz! I LOVE driving with my windows down. The fresh air is so refreshing. I don't even mind the mess it makes of my hair. I do believe my next car will be a convertible, or at least have one of those really big sun roofs!

This summer like weather is such a tease, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, you should too!!

Spring Has Arrived!

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Spring is in the air...for now, and just like that girl, I'm going to take full advantage of the sunshine and mild temps. I have been slacking on my work outs because I've been getting so bored at the gym. Now that it's getting nice out, I fully plan on running outside, then doing my weight circuit at my apartment. I went to Meijer and bought two 10 pound dumbells and an exercise ball, so I should be all set for today! Eventually I'd like to get some more equipment, but today is about the basics.



I found this website to find running routes around my apartment. I haven't signed up for a membership because it costs money, and I am cheap. But this site posts maps and routes that other users of the site run. I like that it gives the distance of the route. I think if I ran more I would pay for the membership to print off the maps, but I just look for the 2-3 mile runs. That is more than enough for me!

Weekend Project

I bought this table and stools off of craigslist for $25. I am tired of eating my meals at my couch and my grandma's old trunk that I use as a coffee table. I have ruined a few nice shirts and stained a couple of khakis from trying to drag my food from the trunk to my mouth. It was more economical to buy the table than to replace my wardrobe!



Anyway, I bought the table. It is much smaller than the picture makes it look, which is ok, because I have a small space. I haven't actually seen it in my apartment yet, I am working on the table in my parent's garage. I hope to have the table completely finished by tonight! It is definitely a change. I didn't want to spend all the time to sand off all of the current finish, to re stain it and make it look perfect. So I went for bright and funky.

I am hoping to complete the table tonight, and will post a picture of the transformation. It's going to be different but I think the table will really brighten up my whole apartment. And I know it will definitely save a lot of my clothes!!

Back on Track

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Jess, Ross and I have been trying to stick to a weight loss challenge between the 3 of us. Our last go around was derailed by a couple of a vacations and a busy tax season.

Yesterday, we started a new challenge. I'm hoping magazines like this one will help with motivation and tips! It will be an 8 week challenge. We will measure ourselves each Thursday evening and whoever loses the highest percentage of inches has to treat everyone to Miss Lisa's ice cream. Our last challenge was won by Ross, he won $15!!

I've learned that even though I lose inches, I don't necessarily lose weight, so we went with inches, and for some reason sharing our weight is more embarrassing than sharing our inches. Who knows!! My goal is to lose 5 inches by May 20th.

In order to lose those inches, I not only have to eat well, but I also have to work out hard. I'm hoping to buy some equipment for my apartment to weight train with if I decide to run outside on a nice day. Maybe I will buy a couple of things this weekend. I am mostly looking for an exercise ball, a 10 lbs medicine ball, and a pair of dumb bells ranging from 5-12 lbs (the expensive part!!).

There are 2 great fitness blogs that I read everyday. meals & moves is a great blog for work out tips, and weight training moves using your typical gym machines and equipment. Janetha is currently sticking to a Body for Life eating plan, and following a similar work out plan in order to tone up for her upcoming wedding. She does a great job mapping out all of her work outs, and gives great tips on meal planning. Just seeing her success is a huge motivation.

The Fitnessista aka Gina, is a certified personal trainer. She also give great work out routines and holds challenges of her own. I participated in her Winter Shape Up challenge, and found some great moves from her weekly weight training schedules. These were great because they required very little, or no gym equipment, just dumb bells and exercise balls. Gina also posts amazing recipes. I am in love with her breakfast cookie and I also made her Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili, it is AWESOME! Her mostly raw and vegan lifestyle is admirable.

These two blogs will help me stay motivated for the next 8 weeks! Wish me luck!!

Inspiration

Over at Design*Sponge, there are a series of 'Before and After' posts.
This one is one of my favorite transformations.

Look at the chair before. Probably found on the side of the road, but what a change!! So inspiring and beautiful! I must learn how to reupholster.

Starting Again

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While I still don't have Internet access at my apartment, I did move into a new office at work that gives me a little more privacy. Because of this, I am going to try to revitalize this blog. I know it's not read very often, especially since I stopped posting for a year!!, but I think I will use this for myself to organize projects I come across online, or recipes that I have to try, or recipes I have tried and love. I use this as a personal 3 ring binder to collect my thoughts, inspirations and ideas.

If you happen to check in on this blog once again (Holly) welcome back! Enjoy my rambling!!