Pre-holiday blahs

Today has been a little off all day. I woke up with such high hopes of fun shopping, art in the afternoon and maybe a little time in the kitchen. After a few necessary weekend errands that seemed to take up most of the day we ended up getting almost nothing accomplished. I've also been checking work email - just to drive myself crazy with all that needs to get done that I'm not doing - now I find that it's almost bed time and a perfectly good Saturday is down the drain.

I try to normally be fairly cheerful and perky (a state my husband would fail to recognize) when I post since I feel like the inter-webs provide plenty of non-positive thought and general cynicism that I want to avoid spreading into the world but tonight I'm pretty cranky and just not up to spreading good cheer. I'm hoping this long rambling purge of discontent will help me wake up on the right side of the bed with a much better attitude.

If not, I was successful in finding tasty smoked gouda and an aged cheddar with herbs and onion. If I have to, I'll drown myself in dairy.

Drawer of Bling

I'm back from Omaha and get settled into daily living again. I had a great time at Silver Bella and loved meeting all the ladies. The event really helped get me into the spirit of the holidays. I'm thinking there could be decorations going up pre-Thanksgiving! One of the best things about the Bella event was it's location in a hotel directly across the street from the Old Market downtown. it didn't take long for all of us to hit the streets and stock up on the goodies.

I found the Second Chance antique store on day one and visited 3 times! This accounts for my new drawer of bling. This store was awesome with a little bit of everything! I added to my lusterware collection, picked up a ton of old photos and, of course, I stocked up on all things that sparkle! These are going to make some really lovely new pieces. I know what I'm working this weekend!

Happy Wednesday guys! It's almost the weekend and gorgeous pre-winter weather (hopefully!).

Silver Bella

I made it! Silver Bella registration and name tag are in hand and I've finally got a list of my classes. I guessed mostly right. :)

Downtown Omaha is lovely and they have two independent bookstores that I've managed to find! There are lots of fun little shops and a couple of super cool galleries. Strangely, one of my favorite purchases from the gallery is a pair of socks. They are really cute.

It was kind of rainy and overcast this afternoon so it was perfect for the coffee shop I found tucked away in... wait for it, a bank. Yep, it's a combo bank and coffee house. I did hesitate for fear hot chocolate had now reached the point of requiring loan papers but no problems. Cozied up in a chair and waited out the rain with a book perfect afternoon!

I would also like to encourage antique and vintage clothing lovers to visit Second Chance. The store was ready for the Silver Bella ladies with tons of paper products, gorgeous rhinestones and everything else our heart desired. I even found a few things I had know idea I needed until now. But a few new lusterware pieces are mind. Suitcase logistics are to be worried about later.

Now, I'm off in search of food. It was beer braised pot roast for lunch with an incredibly tasty smoked gouda soup. Now I'm thinking a sandwich and chili would make my night!

Packing, Packing and more Packing

I finally got all of my presents wrapped and packaged ready for mailing. The ugly doll pretty much sums up how I've felt this week. It's been insanely busy at work and I've just now started packing for my Silver Bella trip which has been made remarkably more challenging by the lack of class list. It didn't occur to me to keep my list that I made when I signed up thinking I would get a confirmation, registration information or something but nope nothing. I'm packing based on the classes I think I signed up for with a little extra stuff. I'll see how it goes.

I've been incredibly unprepared and not really ready for this getaway. I've somehow missed that there was a blog with all kinds of cool updates and didn't really start hoarding the supplies like I normally do. I had an anxiety attack Monday night thinking it would be like going to school with a 24 pack (or the dreaded 16 pack) of crayons when everyone else has the 48. I know about the 64+ but just felt like that was too much. Even then I had my limits.

The husband has been awesome and we went tonight and got some super cute aprons at Anthropologie. This one and this one. He's fully prepared to deal with my particular freak outs and craziness. At the moment, he's searching the garage for large clips. Seriously cute. Worse comes to worse he's assured me I can hole up in the hotel with my millions of books and magazines and just relax for 3 days and that could potentially make all the difference in the world in my mindset. Yep, he's a keeper. I think he might be ready for my trip and a slight break for him and the puppies. I'm betting he's planning what to watch and meals that require no consideration for anyone else. I think there's steak and a million action movies involved. :) We may hit the new James Bond on Sunday on the way back from the airport.

That's it for the rambling. I'm taking a blog break while in Omaha since I refuse to carry the laptop if I don't have to but I will be twittering from the road so those updates post in the right nav or follow directly on twitter.

Have a great week guys!

Hitting the road

It's almost time for the boys and I to hit the road again. This time we're heading for Omaha to Silver Bella. Hopefully I'll be able to wrangle all my supplies and clothes into one suitcase since it's just me and the animals. Rolland's staying home with the puppies since an over the top girlie weekend is not really his ideal trip. :)

Otherwise, it's been fairly quiet in the Lone Star state. We've enjoyed gorgeous fall weather but I'm ready for winter. Omaha and cold weather will be awesome! I can fully enjoy my Uggs and sweaters. I tried to pull it off here one day last week when it was in the 60's but ended up more than toasty and drove home in my tank top and socks to cool off! Clearly I'm a cold weather kind of girl.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Woo hoo!

I watched the election coverage last night and became more and more hopeful but still tense thinking it could go wrong at any second. Once I heard Charlie Gibson saying they felt comfortable announcing a projected winner I let out a war cry that even my husband sleeping with earplugs could hear! He mumbled good then went back to sleep. Sleeping comfortably knowing change is coming.... or so I like to think. Mostly I think he slept thinking his wife is nuts but either way it's a win!

America we did it!

Halloween

Little late but I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Work, Work, Work

So this is one of the perks of my day gig. I get to meet super cool people like William H. Macy. Sometimes.  Other days I get to make mean faces at people in hopes of eventually getting a project out the door. But today, it was more fun. Mr. Macy was beyond charming and down to earth. He made a point to say something personal or share something personal with everyone.  In my case, he noticed the necklace and I was happy I've almost mastered soldering so no weirdness on the jewelry. Jennifer, who took our picture, made sure he knew I had made it. She was incredibly cute. He also really struggled with the marker choice since I brought "The Cooler" (incredible movie) to be signed and the background is black and there was no silver pen. We finally decided on black marker and he could write on the white suit. He was very happy to not have to sign over his crotch (his words). Chatting with William H. Macy over whether or not he would be signing over his crotch? Priceless. This was definitely the high point of my day. Maybe even better than this. 

He's promoting the movie "The Deal" which he wrote and starred in with Meg Ryan. It sounds like it's going to be lovely and funny so I can't wait to check it out. 

Doll Heads a Plenty

It's been a crazy week and weekend here in the lonestar state. Work was nuts and lots of stuff on the home front to keep us busy all weekend. It would've been nice to go to LA this weekend but as tired as I am already, I just can't imagine it after another weekend of travel. I finally got around to opening my ebay packages one of which included these treasures. Rolland is beyond creeped out but I love them. I can't wait to see where they end up.

Besides some studio straightening the entire house got a scrub down early yesterday. It left us plenty of time to do some fun shopping (new iphone for Rolland) and cute glitter covered pink house for the holidays. I was also able to pick up this cookbook for a song at Sur La Table. It's been on my wish list for a long time. Ever since our trip to Vegas I've had more kitchen inspiration and pulling out the cookbooks. This weekend also found me in front of the stove so now the freezer is stocked with tomato sauce, oatmeal cranberry cookies ready to bake, extra cinnamon roll filling and Irish Soda Bread. This doesn't include the pumpkin bread (with raw seeds on top) on the cake plate and the 3 pans of cinnamon rolls I've got ready to take to work tomorrow.

The key for all this productivity has been a serious cut back on television, at least on the weekends. We had been spending far too much of our weekend time, pre-Vegas trip, vegging out in front of the tv. We just didn't have much energy left over from the work week but I've set the alarm and made sure we get up pretty close to when we do during the week and most importantly, I try to go to bed earlier to accommodate the alarm. So far so good since I've also been headache free. This has been awesome! I've been reading some headache prevention books and trying to do most of the suggestions including the diet - some days are more successful than others - but it's been a definite improvement in my quality of life.

Fall in Texas

It's almost fall here I can feel it! Well, mostly I'm trying to will it into fall so I'm taking the 70 degree high as a sign to wear boots and sweaters. This week I was supposed to go to LA for a class but work has been crazy since my return and I can't really justify heading out for another 3 days but I'm already thinking of my goodies for Silver Bella! I can't wait for all the girlie fun.

Instead, we're going to do some housekeeping this weekend - I like to fall clean instead of spring clean - and hit the farmer's market. We've been doing pretty well about eating at home since getting back from the trip. All the restaurants were super tasty but I think we have a little bit of restaurant burnout. If it really is fall temps, we're opening the windows and putting on the vegetable soup!

p.s. In case you were wondering about the odd photo, my Pegasus pic is being used on this guide. Not a big deal but I thought it was kind of fun.

Bouchon and turn down service

Tonight was our dinner at Bouchon and it was more than tasty! The restaurant was lovely and very art deco so a perfect atmosphere for a romantic dinner for two. I've included a shot of the eclair that I had yesterday in anticipation of tonight's dinner. All of it was yummy!

We returned back to our hotel to find the turn down service crew had been by and it included a turn down for the bear and lion as well. The lion's tail is not normally this jaunty. :)

Grand Canyon

Finally made it in Vegas so I can post some pics. These are of us at the Grand Canyon yesterday. That is one gorgeous national park! Rolland was much braver than I as he got right up to the edge and made me very nervous. Of course, it wasn't a long way to go for me since I hate heights! I can't make fun of Abby at the vet anymore since I had some serious leg shakes sitting on the rock overlooks. Yikes! I did overcome my issues and scampered over some rocks, down steps, around trees to get the perfect shots. Seriously, if you get a chance a road trip to the Grand Canyon is the perfect decompressing kind of trip. Even my stuffed baby bear and his lion loved it - they didn't have to do much hiking since they were riders in my bag but still. :)

Now, we've made it to the Bellagio where, amazingly, you have to pay for the internet! OY! But, since we're that big of tech nerds, we paid and I've clearly made use of the connection. I'll have more pics soon - including the Bouchon eclair I could eat everyday!

Road Trippin'

We've made it to Flagstaff and changing clothes for colder weather then hitting the road for the Grand Canyon! If you're interested in more play by play you can follow me on Twitter in the sidebar or actual twitter. Photos should be forthcoming tonight!

Last Minute

I finished up my swaps and got all the goodies in the mail. All the clothes and shoes I need to pack up are being piled up over anything that doesn't move - Abby shouldn't lie so still - and after a good night's sleep we'll be on the road heading West. This is our first seriously long road trip so I'm excited and on the verge of seriously over packing but I refuse to acknowledge that this might be the case. Although truthfully, it's slightly Best in Show with the tank tops right now. My husband is frightened that I understand why 7 kimonos could be reasonable.

Pretty Little Felts

This book is awesome! Julie is one of the brilliant and lovely creators of the Art Nest and her new book is wonderful. It's full of projects that convince me I might actually be able to sew and give the perfect gifts for the holidays. Once I get done with all the travel in the next couple of weeks, I think I have my new projects lined up!