When blogging falls short...

Obvs I'm referring to when blogging falls short

in comparison to my Instagram obsession...

whew...girlfriend needs a 12 step program!! Yikes!

I haven't even read any blogs, much less attempted to write 

a post in atleast 2 weeks, maybe 3. The last time I sat down to write a post

was the day of the SandyHook massacre. I just sat

there reading posts that people had so eloquently written

and I just couldn't put any words together.

I've always said the blogs I most enjoy and admire are

the blogs that are written with gut-wrenching and

no-holds-barred honesty...but turns out that

reading those blogs and writing one of those blogs are two

totally different things.  For 1 in takes much more thought and 

blatant talent but for 2, you have to consider the fact that

any Yahoo you work with might read your blog and all your

blogging business....not cool.

But anyways, the holidays are over, 

(THANK YOU GOD-I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER)

and I'm ready to get on with the new year.

I was already feeling scrooge-tastic heading into the holiday

season and then Christmas turned into a nightmare.

(oh yes....second year in a row) 

So while I grumble under my breath looking at everyone's

posts with their idyllic Christmas trees and family

festivities I try to remind myself not to compare my

behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reels...

Words to live by....

I saw that on Instagram, go figure.

So here's my uber lame attempt at catching up...

I'm going to go the route of posting random pictures with 

brief explanations below them.

Bonfires at mom and dad's

Playing with goats at Kelly's

Halloween!

I really don't care much about Halloween, but I 

do love to dress up and I'm down for any opportunity to

wear a wig!!!

Annual Halloween Wig-out at work

Such a great turn-out!!

I attended a co-workers baby shower where we

donned moustaches of course!!!

These make me laugh so hard...

Alicia...your moustache is falling off...

Charlie Chapman??

Welcome James Jr.!!

Thanksgiving was at my sisters house this year....

Roy and I went to his cousins house initially but then I left

and headed to my sisters to spend the rest of the day with 

my mom & dad.  It was just the four of us which seemed

strange, but we made the best of it and managed to

get some family pictures.

Note to future self: do not wear billowy blouse to family photos...

 My favorite shot of the day

I ate pizza with friends....

I've been watching a lot of The Walking Dead lately, and

Alicia frighteningly resembles one of the zombies in this picture...

 Post-work breakfast at McDonalds with Rach

Roy turned 31...

pardon me while I freak out cause I still can't get 

over the fact that he's 31 and I'm 28!!!

I went to first fridays where I found a helpful little

kitten who kindly held my coffee for me...

Roy even said I could keep him,

but alas he was $5 so he got left behind...

sorry kitty!

I celebrated with Alicia for her 30th birthday....

we failed to get a decent picture...Rachael you're reminding

me of a turtle pulling into his shell in this picture...

we sampled the whipped cream off of fancy martinis

I don't even know what was happening here...

but I love it!!!

Alicia the rat

I swear we weren't trashed, don't let the bloodshot 

eyes fool you!

Christmas Shopping at the legends with mom & Kelly

And the few pictures I took at Christmas were from
Christmas Eve at my  Uncles House. I had to work Christmas Eve
so I was dressed in my AMAZING ugly sweater...

what you can't tell from this picture is the fact that it had bells

all over it that jingled when I walked---perfect!!

Kelly & I

Cousins!!

Sarah, Brianna, myself and Kelly

So that was my lame catch-up post.

I'm going to try to do a post revisiting my New Years resolutions from 

last year, however after some examination I'll probably

realize that I fell short of most of my goals...Eeek!

Oh well, theres always 2013!!

A little weeknight crafting

I spent the past two weekends at craft fairs.

Several things come out of visiting craft fairs two 

weekends in a row...

1) weight gain

2) buyers remorse 

(as in...dammitwhydidn'tIjustbuythatawesome:insertblankhere)

3) some fun craft ideas

Here is my favorite purchase from our craft fair adventures:

I found this at the Sugar Mound craft fair.

This artist makes her jewelry from salvaged airplane

metals and I thought it was a really unique piece.

Here's a couple pictures from last weekend

at the Maple Hill Fair:

oh geez. Gidget.

:must insert side story:

My mom insists on bringing this dog everywhere.

We had to take turns carrying her through the craft fair.

(don't even try to hide your disgust Rachael...it gets worse)

Halfway through the fair we get stopped by two police

officers who tell my mom that dogs aren't allowed

inside the fair grounds... to which my mom snorts a short laugh

and replies..."This is no dog!" and then saunters off...

I stood there wide eyed with my head shrinking into my 

shoulders like a turtle and then I gave the cops an awkward

smile/giggle like "please excuse the crazy lady I'm with"...

Fortunately there were tons of people and we kind of 

disappeared into the crowd, but thats not to say that I wasn't

horrified and certain that we were going to be chased down

and tackled at any given minute!!

Anyhoo...back to my crafting...

I got a couple of ideas from things that I saw for sale

at craft booths, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend money

on things that I felt like I could make myself!!

The most surprising thing about any of this is that I actually followed

through and did these crafts in somewhat decent time!

Craft #1

Hobby Lobby had their scrapbook paper for 50% off 

so I got a TON of different papers for like 6 bucks! Woohoo!

I bought a cheap canvas and painted it with

some green acrylic paint. Then I started cutting and layering

the scrapbook paper in flower-like pattern.

I hadn't worked with modge podge in awhile so I had

to refresh my memory...

I would modge podge a layer down and then start

on the next layer of 'petals'.

Once all my petals were modge podge'd I put

a layer over the entire canvas.

The finished project!

I hung it in the guest room and I think it opens the door

for me to use a lot of fun different colors in this mostly

gray room.

What do you think? I contemplated adding

buttons around the edges...thoughts?

Hooray!

Craft #2

Since I was on a mission to modge podge the entire planet,

I decided to tackle the missing light switch covers in the guest

 bedroom. They're an awkward size that requires us to have 

a 'double' switch plate next to a 'single' switch plate. 

I saw some similar paper-covered switch plates

at the craft shows and I thought it was a clever way

to dress up the plain white plastic.

Cute right? 

I had a few boo-boo's with the modge podge and

had to start over on one of the plates, but I had lots

of paper so it wasn't a big deal.

Craft #3

Have you ever heard of bittersweet?

Well it's a bright orange little berry and it's all the rage

at craft shows. They sell little bundles of it for like $20 bucks!

Sheesh!!

There was no way I was paying that, but I did love

the bright orange fall colors.

My mom thought that she knew where some bittersweet

grew near her house so we went on an adventure

and we hit the bittersweet motherload!

We filled her trunk full of bittersweet vine and then

let it sit and dry out for a few days.

I bought two grapevine wreaths from Hobby Lobby 

and then I used floral wire to attach the bittersweet to the wreaths.

I used smaller sprigs of bittersweet to fill in the bare areas,

and I was once again, pleasantly surprised at how it turned out!

I think they add a nice pop of fall color and I probably

won't want to take them down!!

But I think I'm all crafted out now,

so I'm hanging up my modge podge until the next

craft fair or pinterest post motivates me!