Vacation Time!

I'm off to Florida for all of next week!  I bought plane tickets for my dad and me to go visit my brother, after my Valentine's Day themed sale.  I'm super excited for the getaway and for lots of time with my brother, some serious relaxation, and hopefully some meeting up with friends.  I may also be slightly excited for some warm weather!  I'll be back after March 8th with lots of great photos and stories!

Florida by molldoll527 featuring a print cardigan

Fake Cookies, Real Cake

Heidi and I have been trying to get together on Friday evenings for dinner and crafts.  We usually find things we want to make and text photos back and forth throughout the week.  One of Heidi's recent ideas was for cute fake cookies decorated with puffy paint.  They look pretty darn similar to iced cookies and can be made into a number of things.  I'm going to turn mine into brooches and magnets.  I think I'd like to make them again in a much smaller scale, so I can use them for crafting.  You can find out how to make these cookies over on Heidi's blog!

Winter Wonderland

It's been really cold here, but it hasn't stopped us from exploring.  It's neat to see how lovely some of our favorite walking and hiking spots look covered in ice and snow.  I'm ready for everything to start to thaw, though!

Collections - Cats & Dogs

It's been so long since I've shared any collections or thrift/antique finds!  I haven't really had any recent thrift finds.  I don't hit up any shops as often as I used to.  I got to this point where I started to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I'd accumulated, so lately I've been giving a lot of thought to thinning things out and just really focusing on a few collections that are extra special.  I actually started with our books and filled several boxes.  It felt really good!  This is a collection I think is super cute, but is on my list to get rid of, so I thought I'd share it while it's still around!

Musical Monday

I keep this running list of bands and musicians in my head that I want to see live.  I've been so lucky to see most of my favorites at least once, but there are still a few I haven't crossed off my list.  Stars is one of those bands.  Everything about their music is so lovely to me.  I will finally get to cross them off my live list this year, because we are seeing them play in April!  Happy Monday!

Hard At Work!

Girl Date

Sometimes you just have to take the day off to spend with your very best friend drinking good coffee, eating chocolate croissants, and playing with Shrinky Dinks.

Shop Crush - BeagleCakes

While searching for Sailor Moon items on Etsy, I stumbled upon the cutest stickers by BeagleCakes.  I was planning on doing a Sailor Moon post, because I recently rediscovered my love for the kick ass scouts. I will save that for another time and instead talk about this seriously adorable shop.  BeagleCakes is the work of a talented gal named Maggie.  You can find prints, cards, stickers, and a few other goodies featuring Maggie's work in her shop.  After you check out my favorites, head to Maggie's blog and shop to see more!

Oops! I did it again!

No this isn't a tribute to Britney Spears, although that could make for an interesting blog post.  I mean I went too long without updating again.  If you aren't a reader, feel free to skip this post altogether.  I have a feeling it's going to be a doozy!  I tried to think of some photos to go along with this post and sort of break things up, but I didn't think my messy house or me in my over-sized pajama pants were really blog worthy.

I'm in this place right now.  It's not a funk, but instead just a place of slight dissatisfaction with the professional aspects of my life.  A part of it is really that I need for there to be more hours in the day.  I have so many things I feel like I should be doing, but unless I stop sleeping or quit my job, there just isn't enough time.  As my little hobby/side business seems to grow, I really want to be spending more time working at it and making improvements, but there just isn't always time for doll faces and glue.

The largest source of this dissatisfaction is my actual job.  I love the work I do with clients, I absolutely adore the population I work with, and I think I'm pretty darn good at what I do.  You're probably thinking that should be enough, but it just doesn't seem to be.  Things are quiet and pretty slow at my office right now.  That's scary in an agency that largely relies on government funding.  I'm pretty certain they want to justify giving money away and small numbers probably don't do it.  So you would think this should be a time that we would be working on outreach and maybe looking into how we can improve and better serve our community.  You would think that.  It just isn't happening, though.  And as funding gets tighter, you would think we would really be all about doing our own fundraising.  You would be wrong again.  There have been a few ideas I've brought to my director's attention, but it was left up to me to follow up.  Please see the previous paragraph on needing more hours in the day.  I am often left feeling like no one really cares or maybe everyone has just become so comfortable and used to doing the least amount of work possible that they are oblivious to the fact times are a changin'.

This is a tough spot for me to be in, because I am forever hopeful.  I am hopeful that my agency will be amazing, that we will reach out to and successfully serve all the populations within our community, that every damn person in the county will know who we are and have something positive to say about us.  But that hope is starting to wear me down.  At what point does my hopefulness turn into foolishness?  I know this is one I have to work out for myself.  It really feels good just typing it all out.

If you've stuck with me this far, thank you!  You've made it to the end of my rant/ emotional unload.  As a reward, I promise to not have any more posts like this for at least a week!

Shop Crush - Twitch and Whiskers

If you were to ask me to pick a favorite item from Twitch and Whiskers, well, I really don't think I could. You see, everything that Mei-Ling, the creator behind Twitch and Whiskers, makes is simply amazing!  I stumbled upon her work on Instagram a few months ago and was instantly smitten.  I sort of have a weakness for breathing new life into vintage elements, in case you haven't noticed.  I've been trying to pick out a necklace since before Christmas and I think I've narrowed it down considerably.  Here are my favorites currently, but I've seen some new items on Instagram that have really caught my eye too!

Do you see why I'm having so much trouble narrowing it down?!  Go check out all of Twitch and Whiskers lovely creations and see if you can choose a favorite!

New Death Cab!

Death Cab For Cutie is one of my very favorite bands.  I've probably mentioned that before. I love them enough to have their lyrics tattooed on my thigh, but that's probably for another post.  The band has a new album coming out and I am super excited to hear it.  This is will be the last album with member, Chris Walla, who recently left the band.  I'm sure they'll still be great without him, but I loved watching Chris Walla play live and I'm sure it will feel like something is missing without him playing and producing for the band. And I've just proven that I really can ramble on about anything.  Oops!  So anyway, I got an email last week with a link to a song from the new album and, as always, I was smitten as soon as I heard Ben's voice!  Listen for yourself!