Via text from my mom>> "they're here!"

and so cute!"
part of the 5% that will not be made of paper :).

Fall Preview & Playlist

For my first full Fall back east, I must say it's absolutely beautiful here right now. I'm patiently waiting for photos from last Saturday's quintessential city-folk jaunt to the country, but here's just a taste and a fantastic playlist my roommate Patricia put together for the drive when the leaves turn shades of red & gold.

Come and knock on my door

I picked up this cute fall wreath kit at Paper Source because I wanted to see how long it would take to make paper mums for wedding decorations (can't you just imagine these in shades of white & ivory?). Due to the time intensity factor, I decided not attempt to make hundreds of paper mums. This pretty paper creation is, however, hanging on our door and now that I've finally changed the light blubs in our front porch sconces, our entry is much more welcoming.



Then I saw these paper pretties in the window of J.Crew and I'm reconsidering spending a portion of my limited free time with the bone folder. How amazing are these?









Did I mention that I've decided to use paper for 95% of  all my wedding decore? I'm really excited!

I want a barn

where I can retrieve treasures like this one...


{photo credit: soule mama -- see what she did with it here}

He facebooked me. That's how it all started.

I didn't realize I owe Mark Zuckerberg so much...

Where oh where have these been my whole life?

My friends in middle school said they could leave me in a room with paper, scissors and glue and I could entertain myself for hours. It was true then and it's true today.

Why then, did I just learn about this handy tool? This bad boy is going to revolutionize my paper crafting.
I hate posting twice in one day, but I just saw this and have to share. Z Gallerie has long been one of my favorite furnishing stores (I even worked at the one at Fashion Island for a couple months while in grad school) and now they have one near me!

"Research"

Just doing some "research" online (aka: not working) and found some things to look forward to in our soon-to-be new locale.

I can't wait to browse these two shops, and with it the whole of Grand Street in Williamsburg. Via Martha:

Fresh Kills







































Then I found this super helpful map because I had no idea where Williamsburg is...
I can't wait to get lost in this town again!

Wanna get my art on

Today the execs are away on a "retreat" (funny how a plan can go from turks and caicos to the eastern shore to down the street at the four seasons...I just have to tell myself, it's not my company!) and it's given me some quiet time. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's better to just be so busy I can't think. Maybe sometimes I'd rather be running to get a coffee with half-and-half and a packet of sweet 'n low for the Ikester (aka: mini boss).

Left with my thoughts and a chance to blog surf, I can't help but feel a few green (as in covetous), murky waves of regret.

1. I regret that I didn't learn earlier how to be smarter with money and live on a budget.
2. I regret not sacrificing 'lifestyle' for 'life savings'.
3. I regret the shackles of debt I am now paying off.
4. I regret having to choose employment based on salary instead of job description.
5. I regret not going to design school when I had the chance.
6. I regret having to sit here in a stuffy office and read about other people living their artsy dreams.
7. I regret keeping the Sony point and shoot I got as a gift several years ago (that I never use, hence all the crappy cell phone pics) instead of trading it in for a Canon like I had secretly wanted to and now I regret not being able to afford a new camera because I'm now making sacrifices (see #2) and am on the super-skinny-get-out-of-debt plan (see #3).

Before I bring myself to sorrowful tears of self-pity I need to note some things that I am grateful for.

1. I belong to a Church that promotes self-reliance and debt-free living.
2. I can learn to master the self and delay gratification.
3. The feeling I get every time I add another big payment on my spreadsheet to financial freedom and see my balance chipping away.
4. That my work is footing the bill for my InDesign class and that I know more than every other person in the class and even some things the instructor doesn't know.
5. The opportunity to get out of debt before I bring children into the world and really won't want to have to work.
6. Days with downtime and a chance to catch up on loved ones' lives.
7. A job. A job that pays well.

So yes, while I desperately wish I could roll out of bed, walk two steps and be in my office where I do crafty stuff all day, I know I am learing some really important lessons with eternal significance. a penny spent is really two pennies earned. patience is a virtue. and a whole lotta other stuff.

piggy illustration by: me :)

Something I love about not having a car

Passing a random sushi place in Dupont on my way home and deciding to stop without having to worry about parking...

Footprints

I just stumbled upon my art work on a photography blog, granted the talented haley anderson is a friendly of my sis, but it's still kinda fun to come across when you aren't expecting it.

And I have my first intro to Adobe  InDesign class tonight. Don't ask me how i've made it this far without InDesign, it's complicated and I don't want to talk about it ;). but that all changes tonight and the next four Tuesday evenings. Very excited. Very.

Is it

very terrible that I bought the Captain's Christmas present in ... wait. Is it already October?

I cannot believe that it is already October. And not only October, but almost half-way to November! Where does it go?

In case you were wondering...

this is exactly what my ring looks like...except normal hand size, not giant size like this pic.


Drum roll please...

I don't remember who quoted Elder Dallin H. Oaks' October 2007 General Conference talk Good, Better, Best, but it came at a very appropriate time for me yesterday during the Sunday morning session of this October's General Conference.

Often when making a decision you have to make sacrifices in order to choose the "best" overall option--even if it doesn't always make the most sense.
Well, that's what we did. It wasn't easy, in fact it has been sad to say good-bye to a really great opportunity. However, in saying good-bye to one amazing opportunity, we're really saying hello to another amazing-for-other-reasons opportunity.
And so it is with some sorrow, a little trepidation, and a lot of excitment that we (and when I say we, I mean the Captian and me) will be accepting the offer to join the resident ranks of Lutheran Medical's Endodontics program for 2011-2013.

Brooklyn, here we come!

The way the cookie crumbles

As fate (or not) would have it, the decision is down to two contenders.

Einstein in Philadelphia, PA
Lutheran in Brooklyn, NY

Which would you pick?

*note* I think it's safe to say that there is some disappointment surrounding not having Long Beach as an option. Even I was getting excited about the idea of moving back to Southern California--though when I left, I never thought I'd go back. It would have been really nice to be so close to family again...for both of us. And to get beach cruisers.