November

I know I should have posted this at the beginning of the month. Happy November!

Today is our Thanksgiving lunch at work.  Yum!!!

Today is the first day of......

I made these for our calendar wall at work and wanted to share. I love them! Happy August 1st!

*NEW* Earring Design

Do you have more than one set of holes in your ears? I do. And I am constantly trying to find earrings that go well together, whether it's color, size, kind of earring hook, etc. It's really hard to do sometimes. I finally have a solution!

I think they are beautiful on. The pictures really don't do them justice. I have some ideas for more, but I've been really busy and this is the only one I have put together so far. I will also do some separate pairs that go together, so you can wear them individually if you want. Let me know your thoughts. I'm curious to see if anyone else out there wants some of these beauties!

Antique Store Finds

I got some goodies at the Tennessee Antique mall that is right down the street from my work. So excited about them too. I went one day and saw these canisters. I've been looking for just the perfect canisters anyway. Then I went back the next week and saw some more things I wanted. Then I went back yet again a few days later and made my purchase. So here a photo of the canisters.

Now I just need my own kitchen to put them in. Soon my friends, very soon!

Next I had this great idea for jewelry displays. Bird cages!!! I found this cool tall bird feeder at the antique mall that I just had to get.

The first photo is the bird feeder alone and the second is kind of how my jewelry would look on it. I'm going to spray paint it though. Either white, pale yellow or pale blue. I haven't quite decided yet. I also think I will use this one for my jewelry that is not all metal. I have a feeling that metal on metal might make some of the jewelry rust or oxidize when I don't want it to. I will get some wooden bird cages for the metal jewelry. 

Wouldn't bird cages look awesome at a craft/art fair??? I'm so excited. They will be so helpful for me to see all of my jewelry when I'm getting ready in the morning. I could even lace some scarves and ribbon through the wires on this one. The ideas are endless and my brain is churning! Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for me to finish this project.

Necklaces!

Here are a couple of necklaces I have made. The second image is actually the first necklace I made. It's not symmetrical. That was on purpose when I first made it, but looking at it in the photo makes it look like a mistake. Of course when you're wearing it you can't even tell and it looks awesome. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it.

One of these days I'll get my etsy shop going. But first I need to fix my computer or replace it.

Sick Computer :(

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post. When the tornadoes came through a couple of weeks ago my computer stopped working. I don't think it was hit. I had it plugged into a battery back-up surge protector. But the power went off and the surge protector started beeping. So I went and turned it off, but forgot to turn my computer off. :( Well now it won't come on. The light is lit up and it makes a clicking noise, but nothing happens. And I can't turn it on or off. The IT guy at work said it could be the mother board or power supply. I may just get a new computer. That's why I haven't been posting. Just wanted to give you a quick update! Hopefully I'll be back soon with a well computer or a new one. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the great weather we're having!

*Pretties*

This is something I have wanted to share for a while but I never took pictures and I really wanted to have more than this to show. I have started making jewelry, earrings for now. I will eventually make some necklaces and probably bracelets as well.

The top 2 pairs are my favorite so far. But I also love the chain chandeliers in the middle right picture. I would like to do more with chains and metals. I'm still exploring and trying to figure out what I like best and find the right materials. I have made more than this, but I wear these and had them lying around and easily accessible. Plus, I can't show you EVERYTHING. Someday (sigh) I will open an etsy store and sell this awesomeness.

One of my problems is that I have so many ideas going on in my head that I end up just not doing anything. I'm lucky that I have made the earrings that I have! Please feel free to let me know what you think, or if you would like to buy any from me we can figure that out as well. :) I wouldn't mind designing some sets for weddings or things like that. I know there's really only like one person that reads this blog, so this probably isn't getting out to many people yet.

Enjoy them! I do!

P.S. This is the first time I have photographed my earrings, so I haven't figured out how I want to style the photos yet. I would also use a better camera and lighting. If anyone has tips please let me know!

*Lampshade*

So I have finally finished my lamp shade. I think it matches my bedspread pretty well. I have a matching lamp to this one, so eventually I will decorate the other shade. Right now I only have room for one nightstand, therefore one lamp.

It took me a while to figure out how to do this shade. I went to Joann's and looked at little flowers and other ribbon to put on it, but finally decided on yarn. I used tiny colored safety pins to attach the yarn so it wouldn't be permanent if I wanted to take it off. I love the tactileness of it! Here is a shot of it with the bed.

(and there is Winston, asleep)

Bedroom Butterflies

I know, I'm crazy with 2 posts in one night!

This one is about some projects I want to do. Hopefully soon!

Anthropologie is one of my favorite stores, as I'm sure it is one of yours as well. I love everything in it! So last year I got a bedspread from there. This is a photo of it, from the catalog. That is not my room, but you probably knew that since the photo is outside.


So now I want to decorate my lamp shades to go with this beautiful bedspread. I will post before and after pics when I do it. I already bought the materials for it. I just need to sit down and do it. A headboard is the second project I will eventually take on. Probably just plywood, probably cut to a shape I like and upholstered with fabric that will compliment the bedding and adorned with some furniture tacks or something. Nothing too hard, just need to buy everything and pick out fabric.

Here are a couple more scenes from one of Anthropologie's catalogs that I love. Probably not going to decorate like either, but I love how they made one of the sets with all fabric. The windows and doors are sewn together, even the outlets! Just awesome!


Wouldn't it be great to be one of their stylists or designers??? I'm no clothing designer, but I could help with the catalog! Hire me!

Long Awaited Update

I know it's been a few months, but here's an update of what's been going on for the past month. I had a kidney stone! I never knew how painful they were. They are even compared to labor and are supposed to be more painful than labor. I have mine for about three weeks. Here's what happened.

I think it actually started on a Saturday night, in the middle of the night. I woke up nauseas and with a stomach ache, so of course I thought it was something I ate. I was feeling kinda crappy all day on Sunday, but no major pain. So finally on Tuesday after I got home from work I was feeling slightly nauseas and had a pain in my lower back on the right side. Within probably an hour the pain moved to the front and got so much worse. It felt like there was a knife in my stomach. It got so bad that I had my parents take me to the hospital. I could hardly walk to the car at that point.

Wouldn't you know it, but when we got to the ER my pain was decreasing. By the time I started talking to someone to tell them my symptoms/pain, the pain had already vanished. I figure I was in pain for about 2 hours if not more. But I wasn't sure what was going on. We had a feeling it was a stone, but wanted to make sure. Since I was in the ER I was hoping they would do some kind of ultra sound or cat scan and they did. I got a cat scan and they found the stone and told me it was 3mm. 3mm is the size of the ureter tube that it was traveling through to get to my bladder. So the doctor gave me a prescription for some pain killers and the name of a urologist to call. We left and it was like 12:30 or 1 a.m. Not many pharmacies are open at that time. We drove around Franklin looking for an all night Walgreens. My dad even stopped a cop to ask him if he could find us one! Too funny! The only one was in Bellevue, about 20 minutes away, but we went on so I could sleep that night. I finally got to bed around 3 a.m. and went to work the next morning.

I went to a urologist that day. He told me that usually you can pass them on your own, but definitely at the 4 week mark he would want to do surgery and remove it. I just wanted the dang thing out though. That weekend I was supposed to celebrate my birthday, which was on Monday, Feb. 9. So of course Saturday I was nauseas all day. But I finally got out and went to a movie and to the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert with a friend.

Wednesday was the next day I had some trouble. I woke up with pain and it just kept getting worse. So I stayed home from work because it's hard to concentrate on anything but the pain. Luckily I did have pain killers from the ER. So I went back to the urologist one day that week and we went ahead and scheduled surgery for the next Friday because I really couldn't afford to miss work a lot. With a kidney stone you really never know when it's going to bother you or when you're going to pass it. I was trying to drink a lot of water, but when I'm at work I forgot to drink.

Tuesday I went to work a little late because I wasn't feeling great. I was there for an hour and left because the pain was getting bad. That day sucked. I drank so much water that it made me very nauseas and it all came back up. Every time I took a sip it made me feel worse. Also this whole time I had to pee through a strainer just in case the stone came out. That was I could take it in and get it tested.

So Friday comes along and I hadn't caught the stone, so I go in for surgery. When I woke up they told me that the doctor didn't find the stone. I was like, what the heck??!! But my ureter tube was so swollen and irritated that he put the stent in anyway. A stent is a tube thing that goes from the kidney to the bladder to keep the tube open when there is swelling. I had to have that in for almost a week. I just got it out on Thursday. I won't tell you that story because it is awful (at least to me). Needless to say they just go up there and pull it out, in the office.

So I'm all back to normal. It felt weird with the stent in. When I finally got used to it on Wednesday, they took it out the next day. So then I was a little sore from that. I'm all good now. In a month thought I have to give them some urine and they will draw blood to run tests and see what caused the stone to developed and what I can do to hopefully prevent one from forming again. Unfortunately I have a feeling I will have another one.

I feel so sorry for people who have them every few months. I know I did not feel that great those 3 weeks I had mine, so I can't imagine going through that several times a year. I really wanted to catch mine though and see it. I keep imagining a piece of glass cutting me up inside. That's what it felt like anyway.