Costumed Capers

I LOVE Halloween. Love it love it love it. Some of the best parties I've ever been to were costume parties, and the dressing up is only half the fun. This year, however, my celebrations will be much more subdued. This year there's no party to go to, so instead of this:

                                          Me, G. M. and Jenny as the Three Musketeers

or this:

                                                               Foster and I
I'll be staying home for the most part, doing wifey things and wearing my fangs to remind me of the good ol days. Have a great day everyone, don't eat too much candy, and watch out for zombies!!

OMG October!!!!

So, here's the sitch. This has been one hell of a busy month so far, and it's only half over!! Let me start at the beginning, ok? The first and bestest thing is that my sister got married! Congratulations Hay and 2A12!!!! It was a beautiful day, full of love and laughter. The ceremony was held outdoors, ballsy, I know, especially at this time of year, but my sister is some kind of magical because that day the weather was perfect! Everyone looked amazing, and I haven't seen a couple so in love since the last time hubs and I got our picture taken. Now, I know you're all dying to know about the reception, and I'll tell you. Picture a room full of joy, add some love, now make everyone starving. Just as you think things are going to start getting hectic...along comes Brother Perry, with The Most Delicious Food Ever. Here's a link to his website, go there, drool a bit then come back, cuz I've got pictures!!!!     http://www.perrysgourmet.com/    
The food was amazing. The staff was so friendly and professional, it felt more like having friends help you out. Through the magic of Kenny's kitchen, a joy filled day was made more special, and for that I thank him and urge everyone in the Boston area to book them asap. It's worth it!!

Yes, we ate soul food until we thought we'd burst. After that, hubs and I needed some air, so we returned to the park where the ceremony was held and he took me on a very romantic boat ride around the lake to watch the sun set. * Girly sigh* I just love him!

So wedding stuff took up some time. But I have also been busy expanding my business. You all know about the Etsy shop,( buy my stuff!! ) now I've got a retail space too! I met with the owners of Find a Unique Boutique in Greenfield MA, and the most excellent manager H chose 7 pieces to be in the store. I am totally excited right now and can't wait to see what the next adventure is going to be!
Until then, xoxox

Sleepless in September

Here it is, nearly halfway through the month and I haven't told you anything!! I'm so sorry for neglecting you all, but other than a hurrican't, a house guest, a birthday and some traveling, not much is really going on over here. I've been busy as a bee making new pieces for the shop, still can't figure out why my ipod and camera don't like my new computer and walked for about an hour this morning. The weather was nice for it, slightly cool but not too much, and only a tiny breeze. I'm really hoping that something funny happens soon so I'll have stories to tell you!
Ciao bellas!

What I've been doing

I've been so focused on making jewelery for my latest venture that I haven't had any adventures to tell you about! I did go visit my Nana with Hay last weekend so we could get started on my dress for the wedding, but other than that it's been all work and working out. So, why don't we take this opportunity to check out my work, then you all can tell me how awesome it it, because really, who doesn't like to hear stuff like that? 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JDTPdesigns?ref=pr_shop

There's my shop. I've only put  a few pieces up, but here are pictures of everything I've got for sale right now. Let me know if you see something you like, I'd be happy to sell any of these. ( Captions are for the picture above)

                                              This one is listed at $25.00 in my little shop :)

                                            This one isn't listed, but I'd sell it for around $20.00

                          This one is listed too, I love how glowy the green flowers are! $20.00

 I had made this one for myself at first, but thought it might make someone else happy too. $30.00

                                 I love this piece. It looks amazing when you put it on . $40.00

                                   My first statement piece. It's weighty, and complex.  $120.00

                             I made this one a while ago, it looks like springtime in necklace form. $ 40.00

Ahhh, shameless self promotion. You're almost better than coffee on a dreary Monday morning.

Awww yeah, here we go

My to do list for today is short. I only have about 5 chores that need to get accomplished before I can sit down and get some work done. "Sweet!" you're thinking, right? I know that's what I was thinking. But my list just got shorter. Why? Some inconsiderate asshat broke the washing machine. AGAIN. In my building, there's just the one washer and dryer to service all 12 apartments. Normally it's not a big deal to wait for an hour or two to get the laundry done, but recently ( and I'm not mentioning any names only because I don't know them) our neighbors have somehow managed to break the washing machine about...oh, I can think of at least 5 instances in the last 2 months where I'll go down with my stuff and find the machine full of dirty water ( like today) or otherwise broke down. Now, the instructions on the machine are easy to follow. Put in your clothes, making sure not to overload the washer. Add your soap, add your money and BOOM, clean shirts for everyone. I think it's the new family that just moved in across the hall from us. We never used to have this issue, the most annoyance I ever ran into was having to wait for someone else to be done. Maybe who ever is breaking the machine is functionally illiterate, but I prefer to be paranoid about it and think that they just don't want me to have clean undies. The bastards.  I honestly wish I could catch someone in the act of douchery that's breaking the shit. Not to yell or cause a scene or anything dramatic like that, but so I know who to avoid just in case stupidity really is contagious. My only options now are to wait for it to get fixed, find another Laundromat (hello extra expense I don't need), call the land lady and bitch or sit here and write about how pissed I am. I think you all can guess what I'm doing first. I want to be a good neighbor, I really do. I'm considerate with my noise (for the most part), don't make gross smelling food that could pollute the hallway with stink, and haven't yet hit any one's car in the parking lot. However, when one is running out of fresh clothes, all bets are off.
There. I feel better now, like I could hold an adult conversation without swearing like a pissed off trucker. Let's see how the rest of the day goes, shall we?

Sleepless in what now?

I awoke this morning at 3 AM to a wet pillow and a desperate need to pee. Yes, that's right..my insomnia's back with a vengeance and some scary new tactics. See, I fell asleep easily enough, at a reasonable hour ( 10 ish I think) comfy and not too warm, even though it's hot as blazes here right now and my room never seems to cool off..so being thrust into awareness was surprising as hell. The peeing thing I can understand, dinner was pretty salty so I drank a bunch of water. The wet pillow? Ahh..it stayed a balmy 85 degrees in my bedroom last night, even with fans, the AC and later on windows open to catch a breeze. To have both of these conditions work together though, to rob me of my much needed rest is just unfair though. Because, like many of you out there.. my day starts when I pee for the first time. It's how I know I'm done sleeping for a while. So, picture this..me, in my apartment, in the dark ( hubs was still blissful in slumber..the lucky bastard!) wondering if it was even worth trying to go back to bed when I KNOW that my alarms just going to go off in a few hours. I considered making some coffee, pushing through until hubs went to school and then just taking a nap, but I always feel like a slacker when I do that. If he's got to up and doing stuff during the day, I should be up doing stuff too. Gah..stupid fair play grumble grumble..

So now it's (later on in the) morning, I'm "awake", sans coffee and man....it feels like..actually, I feel pretty good.
                                                                               What??

The sun's out, it's looking like it's going to be a beautiful day, I'm hoping that Hay comes for a visit today, the baby geese are trying out their wings, and life is pretty freakin good. Huh, what do ya know about that? I hope everyone else has a lovely morning, because whether I want to or not, it looks like I'm going to.

ciao!

Oh yeah, it's summer

It's been a while since I've written to y'all, sorry about that. But you know how it is...life gets in the way and suddenly you realize it's been way too long since you've done what you love...anyhow, how 'bout I tell ya what I've been up to? Heh heh yeah.. story time.
Hubs is off this week, and it was the fourth of July last Monday, so to celebrate both of these happy events, we went on a little trip. Our first stop on the whirlwind tour was dinner with Bams and a few friends of hers. I normally have social anxiety about meeting new people..that's why I sit at my desk and write and make stuff. I used to be able to handle crowds..but not anymore. Hubs is the same way, for different reasons obviously. We both just like to be at home, where it's quiet and we can talk or not talk as we like. We're really quite perfect for each other that way. So I was super pumped to be seeing Bams, nervous about meeting new people and really really hungry for dinner after a long hot day on the road in a car with no stereo. Turns out I had no reason to be nervous at all. Bam's friend from The City was awesome and an amazing chef, and the surprise guests were great too! Conversation and drinks flowed easily, the food was delish, and we all ended up falling asleep watching a french cartoon. Hubs had a good time too, finding it easy to talk to people he'd never met.I even met a fan of my little blog! ( Sorry I won't mention any names...protecting the privacy of the innocent and all that..) The only downside was that the jello shots we brought to the party weren't that good, but they were pre-made, so don't look at me, MY jello shots are awe-inspiring and tasty and get you shwasted fast. Anyhow, as we were sitting around enjoying the evening, fireworks started going off all over the place, some neighbors were having a private show and the town we were in had their show around the same time. It makes me remember where hubs and I were at this time last year...outrunning both a heat wave and a massive storm system across the southwest. We actually watched fireworks for about 3 or 4 hours last year, since the highway we chose ran close to towns all over the place.

When hubs and I woke up the next day, we were still in the chair we'd been sharing to watch the movie..and it was so adorable I wish someone had taken our picture. Anyhow, it was early enough in the day that we decided to get back on the road to beat holiday traffic, and our plan totally worked. After stopping for breakfast foods at the grocery store, and driving through torrential rains..we arrived in Shelbcity. The parents were stoked to see us, and after a hearty breakfast ( I'm talking 18 eggs and nearly a pound of bacon plus coffee! HEAVEN!) we commenced to chatting. All in all it was an excellent visit, Hay and 2A12 came out and we had a BBQ, the only person missing was Little Brother, but he was working that day. We all got a little drunk from the double coco-nana drinks and sleep was very welcome. The trip back to our place was fine too, traffic cooperated with us so hubs didn't have to go postal on anyone. And after all that, we're still on vacation. I wonder where we'll go next?