Dear 5 People,

I am here now! Check it out...I am a WEBSITE/BLOG MAKING MANIAC!!!

Oh, My! Our Wedding!

I just realized that I haven't posted pictures of our wedding. We got hitched on a horse farm on October 15th. The weekend itself was a whirlwind and I spent more time with more people that I love all at once than I have ever before. It was good. The wedding was blissful and marrying S is the best thing I have ever done. She is my heart. And I am a lucky woman to be able to call her my wife.

The wedding party

THE moment!

I love the horse in the background <3

Everyone dancing and falling in love

Food for the horses :)

The guest table (with a cute little leather book from this etsy shop)

The guest table again

We gave everyone a horse shoe from a horse from the farm

We had our rings in a little bird's nest found by a little kid

This was the note on each place setting

Me and my bff's running through the paddock

My favorite picture from the day

This was the seating area

Everyone getting ready to watch us say "I Do!"

S and I with my Omar

This is S and me and our moms

Feeling Inspired but Work is Getting in the Way

My mom made a joke today and said, "Well, you can't get paid to sit home and knit." I disagree! How do I make my dreams come true-er!?

A Bit of Toast and Jam, Please!

I adore the online store TOAST (and they are having a HUGE winter sale!). You can order your very own catolog here! Their website is full of cozy sweaters and pjs and everything made for a chilly night in Maine! Cuddled up next to a fire. Dreaming of days where we see snow on the ground outside our windows!

I picked a few of my favs and created a perfect sheep farming outfit! Well, maybe a perfect outfit for a cozy night at the dinner table with my wife after a long day on our sheep farm. Ahhhhh, to dream! all images are from toast:

Loving these slippers! Perfect to slip on after taking off the boots!

Time To Read More Words (and share some more of my own)

So happy to have connected in the internet with this cool lady: Check out her blog (at which she and her hubby are renovating an incredible home and barn!)and her fabulous etsy site!

I have made a new decision for this upcoming year of my blog reading. Reading blogs is one of my favorite things to do after work, while cuddled up on the couch with my wife and our dogs and fat cat (often with a cup of tea and glass of wine-bliss!). But, after reading a few blogs over the past year or so, I have noticed that I feel terrible about myself after I read them...like I'm not one of the cool kids again. And it is totally ridiculous and insane but it is even more silly that I keep reading those sites (and following a few of them on twitter). I know this is totally about me and not them or their blogs but I know that there is something small beneath the surface that is a bit pretentious and maybe not so real. I can just feel it. So, my decision is to only read blogs that fill me with inspiration and depth rather than begin questioning my worth or productivity or "coolness." This is not to say that I will only be reading blogs about world peace or climate change, I will still hunt for the perfect vintage outfit, the best red lipstick, the perfect barn renovation project done on a modest budget, and I will blog about these things, too. I will also look inside myself a bit to see why not being the cool kid still hurts like hell.

With this said, I also happen to read many other inspiring and ego-less blogs (like AO and hers and hers and hers and this one and this one, too! Ooops, and more (I will share more as I find them). See, there are many fabulous women who create blogs full of art and design and crafting and share their recipes and photographs and share my love of vintage and thrifting and reading. They also share stories of their lives and all of the great parts and the sometimes not-so-great parts. All which are pretty incredible secrets to share with strangers. And I feel lucky to read them. So, thank you, great bloggy ladies! Happy New Year!

p.s. I have a twitter so feel free to follow me. I mostly post about drinking coffee, knitting, tweeting about raising our cute little chickens, or commenting about my wonderful wife's pet sitting business (to help market her).

Oh, and I got a new computer! Wooooot! So, now I will be able to blog more. My computer was slllllooooowwwwing down the past few months and I was frustrated every time I used it. Well, no more! Oh, sweet, sweet Mac, how I love thee always!

I love how Atwood loves to be right in my lap while I knit. <3

Shop update!

The shop was just updated! Happy holiday shopping!

This weekend...

-photograph new (to me) vintage wares for etsy -list on etsy -package sold orders -knit (bought 3 pretty new yarns at the yarn shop last night!) -snuggle with the babies and the wife (really #1 on my list) -read -knit -finish college teaching position application (b/c I am a slacker) -submit fiction and creative non-fiction for publication (ack!) -wash blankets -stare at the Christmas tree -make a felt mouse for my mom's cat -knit some more -read some more -breathe

Trimmings

Our dining room table with our tree up! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

WTF is CSS? and how do I even begin to speak?

I am at war with myself. (I always want to say "elf" after I say "myself" as in myself the elf- but I digress) I want to make an all-star blog full of fabulous vintage finds, pictures of the food I make, the cakes/brownies/cupcakes I bake, or will be baking more now that we have eggs, noteworthy mentions of fashion, art, the world that grows around me. But, in order to do this I need to speak the language and thus far, CSS and Photoshop and HTML is as foreign to me as, um, some other foreign language that I do not speak. The war with myself (the elf-whew, I feel much better) is fueled by looking at other beautiful blogs, blogs written by women who appear to be amazing and carefree and fluent in the words of the machine, i.e. the web design environment. I am committing myself(I didn't do it this time...ok, stopping now)to learning Photoshop CS5 since I freaking OWN it and maybe watching all of the youtube.com tutorials will help me. I am in need of arrows and pointers and fun fonts and creative cutouts of my favorite internet finds, yo! I need brushes and tools and cut little pinking shear borders around my blogness. Stay tuned, folks. Stay tuned.

What?! What?! Etsy update again!

The shop has been updated again! I'm on a freakin' roll, people! A huge vintage item listing roll!

Etsy Update

Been busy on the shop! Let me know what you think!

Planning and Manifesting and Enough

I wish that I could let you into my synapses for a small bit. Five minutes would be enough. Well, maybe it wouldn't be close to long enough but anything is better than nothing. Our weekend away did our hearts and minds good. We planned and dreamed. We decided that although we are happy, we aren't happy enough. We are alright with our live and our home but as I noted in the last post, we just aren't thrilled with flat Florida. The close proximity of neighbors is annoying. So, we have made a semblance of a plan. We know that we must stick it out here for at least 3 years, possibly even 5. The house is great as it is and will give us quite a profit in a few years. This also gives us time to learn all about fiber farming (sheep, etc.) and decide where we will move. I am also applying to teach at the college nearby to give me a bit of extra practice in teaching and I will also be submitting my writing. Shocker! I. Me. Yes, me. I will be sending in some of my fiction and Creative Non Fiction to publications. Soon. I even have permission from one of my old professors to name drop which I hope helps. We'll see. The etsy business is also doing quite well so I will be working on stocking it up more and doing some advertising to get more traffic. Also, as if I wasn't busy enough (there is that word again...enough), I will be teaching myself yarn spinning and plan to sell the yarn on my etsy shop. I am getting some wool from a friend soon from here shetland sheep that she sheared herself. I have a stack of books en route to our house on farming, sheep, goats, and alpacas so we can begin to make our decisions. So far we are leaning towards sheep.

Coffee and Conversations About Future

Sitting with my wife right now, sipping coffee (me) and tea (her) and planning our future. We are wanting to leave Florida one day and how to make this happen seems like it will require much planning and dreaming and manifesting. And I know that all of these things will take time and patience. Patience is often not my strongest or best quality. I want what I want when I want it and that is NOW! And this all makes me sound bratty and obnoxious (both of which I actually might be). I crave land and trees and greenery and farm animals and seasons. We live in a 1600 sq ft 1925 cottage which we LOVE but even though we are in what is considered a double lot in our town, it is still too close to our neighbors for our liking. We have 3 hens (which aren't even allowed in our town), 5 dogs and a fat cat. We need land for gardening and silence. We need seasons for our souls and hearts. I need inspiration in the form of changing leaves and silent snow to write my novel that is only 25 pages in. I need. I need. I need. I want. I want. I want. Patience.

Photoshop and blogging

So, I now have the newest version of photoshop and a heck of a lot of desire to learn how to use it effectively for blogging. I have already learned how to add text, mess with the pixel/resolution, and a few little things to do with photos. I have ordered a new mouse b/c I am not able to use my track pad very well with photoshop. Not sure why this is....I see KMH do it and she does it just fine (super talented lady)! I guess I am still so very new to it (and am completely learning through watching videos on youtube). I have also done a bunch of research on the Bamboo tablet and may be getting one of those soon, too. I am still trying to figure what all I need/want/have to have to be able to do what I want with my blog. I am giving myself the next few months to really get this going...find it's direction, purpose, meaning. Fashion? Decorating? Life? House renovating? All of the above? I guess we will all see how this evolves. Ha...that sentence made me laugh. Since there are just SO many of you following this blog. I mean, really! ;) Hold on to your seats, peeps.

Playing with picnik and loving it!

This is Zenny and he likes to eat.

The list

-Costco
-make eye dr appt
-get ring cleaned
-get hair did
-food shop
-plant seeds

Wedding bells will be ringing in less than two months!

I will be marrying my sweet girl on October 15th and I am so looking forward to making this commitment to my soon-to-be-wife in front of our dearest friends and family is beyond what I could have ever imagined myself doing. I guess I thought I would commit to someone but I don't think that I actually understood what "long haul" meant or what standing with someone through the good stuff, wonderful stuff and terrible stuff. I am so grateful for all that I have learned over the years. Some of the learning was severely sad, hard, difficult, terrible, lovely, inspiring, etc. Everything we ever thought love would be or life would entail. I guess what I am saying, or attempting to say, is that life is every little experience, moment, tear, smile, happiness, disgust, hug, kiss, kiss off, heart break, break up, starting and ending....it is all ours. My life and yours.

Needing a quiet place.

I am seeking quiet. Silence. Peace. Serenity. A moment void of noise. I do not want to run away from my life. Rather, I would love to take a trip with my wife and one or two or our dogs and take a drive into the mountains. Away from Florida. Away from the work chatter. The stressful days and busy streets. We would bring books, music, coffee, wine and cheese and other yummy munchies. This weekend is Shaun's bday weekend and we are celebrating by having a quiet weekend at home in our house. No visitors, no dinners out, no going over people's homes. Just the two of us. Blissful. I am craving a cabin over looking a mountain, a lake, a river, anything.

Some jewelry pics

The etsy jewelry site is up and ready for business!

My etsy site for jewelry!