new music...

I think I need to be stopped! In the last 2 weeks I have bought 4 albums off itunes. It's my way of bribing myself while I have to work. This is how it goes in my head...

well if i have to work tonight/weekend i might as well have new music to listen too. that will make me feel so much better and keep my mind on happy things.

I think itunes is loving me right now! And I probably need to seek help.

anniversary

Today is my Paulsen Anniversary #11. Wow I have been working there a long time.
I must be getting old ;)

memories...

Today I was ready etsy's blog section of their site AND they had a post about Harry Whittier Frees. He was a photographer and children's book author (1879-1953). I recognized his photography. When we were little we had some of his books. I think they were my moms when she was little. I have not thought about these books in forever! The photos were so cool/odd and none of my friends had books like these. I guess Harry is becoming famous again. Some of his images have been re-printed in a book.

It's amazing that you can see an image and it can take you to another place. I am going to have to find these books next time I go home.

(Bryce do you remember these?)

* you can read about Harry Whittier Frees here.

best ebay purchase ever!

These arrived today. They could be the best group of spoons ever. I can't wait to make them into jewelry ;)

my grandpa...

Well, I am at work again and I am finding everything distraction possible. So I thought I would introduce you to my Grandpa Jess. Today he had surgery to get a pacemaker. He is doing well and should be out of the hospital tomorrow. He is 87 but you would never know it.

He is a pretty amazing guy (although I could be a little biased). I fell so lucky to have him. He has remodeled every house we have lived in. He served in WWII in Europe, delivering tanks to the troops (he has some pretty amazing stories). He saved our house from being burned down when my mom tried to make him homemade donuts (grease fire). While I was growing up he had a cabin/house on a lake in Missouri. That was the coolest thing...to visit him and swim.

And if anyone is wondering where my chocolate addiction comes from. It's all his fault ;)

i heart target...

I know this blog has kind of become a place to showcase my shopping addiction. But seriously this is the best deal I have ever found!

Tonight after work and dinner Janet and I were walking around Target. We didn't really have a purpose for being there. We ended up in the electronics isle. On the end they had a clearance section. I found this great speaker for my ipod. Normally this speaker costs $150.00. I got it for $37.89!!!!!!

This is right at the top of my best shopping ever list. Although it is hard to beat the dress I purchased at JC Penney's for $2.50. I think it was normally $70.00. My friend Mae told me...they practically paid me to take the dress out of the store ;)

progress...

On Saturday I cut apart 300 pieces of silverware. Quite a feeling of accomplishment and a large bruise on my leg from the bolt cutter ;)

I have some really great pieces that will make cool jewelry. The sugar/jelly spoons are my favorite. If anyone finds a sugar/jelly spoon at a garage sale I will pay a finders fee :) Below are photos for reference...

i made it...

Well it's official. I am going to be selling my FlatWear creations at the Brookings Summer Arts Festival. Let the creating begin :)

The festival is July 12 & 13.

On a side note. I am sitting in a super cool hotel in Kansas City. We just got back after having a fun time at the NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) show. We went out to eat at a cool place called: 7.

Now I am so ready for bed.

hope...

Finally the sun is shinning and its going to be nice outside. Yeah! I feel like a new girl. I can handle anything now :)

Yesterday I cleaned my house and re-arranged a couple of rooms (I can not put into words how badly I needed to clean). That is the best feeling. It makes me feel like I have all new stuff. Love it! I worked a little also. Is it bad that my muscles are sore today from cleaning & moving furniture? And tried to upgrade a new operating system on my laptop. Of course it did not work and now I need a bigger hard drive. So what was going to be a fun new toy is now going to cost me even more money. Oh, well...

On Wednesday I am going to Kansas City. The National NAMA awards are held there. NAMA is an award show for ag marketing. I am excited to leave the office! It will also be warmer there and my grandpa lives near by. If I am lucky I may get to say a quick hello. My grandpa is so cool, and I don't get to see him nearly often enough.

Next Sunday is going to be a yaking (kayaking) day, hopefully. I have been waiting. My kayaking shoes came last week (cute & comfy). My kayak was purchased in Denver in September. So I have only used it for about 10 minutes before it had to be put away for winter. I am so anxious to use it. So hopefully dad can come to Sioux Falls, hopefully it will be nice and not windy. It will be so much fun.

Well I better start working so I can leave on Wednesday :)

in love...

Today things are a little slower around here :) I actually had a little time to breathe. Mike returned from his mini vacation. We went to grab some food for lunch and took a little detour to a music store. Music stores use to be a normal thing for me. My parents had me start piano lessons at the age of 5, the clarinet/guitar in high school, and the sax in college. My mom loved music so much (even though she was totally tone deaf). I took piano lessons every year until I was a sophomore in college. That was when art officially took over. Anyway...Mike's son had an electric drum set so now he wants one. I guess I didn't really realize how familiar a music store would feel. So I hovered in the digital piano area while Mike checked out the drums. I was so in love. I have wanted a digital piano for a long, long time. Right now I have a traditional acoustic piano, which is never in tune (maybe its time to sell it). So the sales guy starts talking to me. I am so hooked, if he was a little pushier I probably would have left with one today. But now I am thinking it over. I do think there was a sign from God involved though. They were playing Third Day in the store, could it get more perfect! They totally have my business now! Mike says you need to wait 2 weeks to make sure it's really what you want. Right now I just want it.

Sometimes the obvious things never occur to me, today I realized that I did not take 13 years of piano lessons for nothing. I should really make playing the piano a priority or at least play it more often. And possibly buy a digital piano.

again...

It's a rainy gray Sunday and I am at work. I need to stay focused badly. I have lots to do. But blogging sounded like a great distraction. The shoes pictured above arrived at my house on Friday. Of course I ordered them on line. So Cute! I can't wait to wear them. I actually saw them in an ad while I was getting my hair cut and colored. I ordered them from www.piperlime.com (zappos did not have my size). Anyway, piperlime is super cool (and a cool name). The have really cool packaging and print materials. I am now in love with them.

So I guess I will become focused now. Or maybe I will see what new music I can buy on iTunes to make the day go faster :)

make it go away...

I have so much work to do, I can't even figure out where to start. So blogging is probably a good choice. It is pretty bad when it's Wednesday (I just had to look that up on the calendar) and you are so happy that you still have Saturday and Sunday as days you can count as work days. There is a big meeting on Tuesday in Denver and a really big pile of projects to accomplish. I wonder if next week will be any better...

I wonder when I am actually going to loose it...I am sure it will all be fine once I get a few projects done. Right?

avoiding work...

I am at work and doing a really great job of avoiding what I need to be doing. So far I have finished revisions on 8 jobs and have totally run out of steam. I have one big project to finish and I am completely distracted. So far I have caught up on all the blogs, looked at the new releases on iTunes, checked out etsy.com & ebay.com, and my favorite distraction...shoe buying. I just purchased these super cute shoes from landsend.com. They are going to be my kayaking shoes. Having the right shoes for kayaking is so important. Your feet have to get wet, the banks of rivers/lakes are rocky/slimy and then your feet need to dry out. I think these are going to be perfect! And they are cute. Now if it would just quit snowing, I can maybe go kayaking some day. So I wonder what I can do next to avoid working...

easter & a road trip

I know I am a couple of days late but I do have to post about Easter. I left Sioux Falls on Saturday morning and arrived in Lincoln, NE at about 12:30 pm. Our family was having Easter dinner on Saturday night so everyone could attend. I was in charge of dessert. I made fancy chocolate mousse with whipped cream (not from a can or container) with crushed Oreo's in the bottom of the fancy goblet. My aunt was the hostess. After dinner we played games on the wii. Oh, I am so addicted! I LOVE guitar hero. I kind of want to buy one, but they are kind of expensive. It was a fun pre-Easter evening.

The next morning dad and I decided to go see the Sandhill Cranes. They migrate from Mexico to Canada and make a stop over in Nebraska. They stop at the Platte River from March 1st to April 1st. So we packed up the truck with coats, cameras and munchies and headed to Grand Island, NE. It was a little cold and windy that day, but we survived.

The cranes sit in the fields all day and eat the grain that is left from the harvest and at night they come and roost in the Platte River. Well, technically on the sand bars. We staked out our viewing station and took our place at 7:00 pm. It is kind of a weird to see 300,000 birds fly over. They also make a cool cooing sound. If you would like to watch them land you can do it on the National Geographic website. They have a Crane Cam. Here is the link http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/cranecam/ viewing hours are between 6:30-8:30 am cst and 7:00-9:00 pm cst (yes I am a nerd). It really is an amazing site.

So that was my Easter weekend. It went super fast, but it was fun :)

crafting...

Yesterday I made a quick trip to Michael's (craft store). I usually forget out Michael's because Hobby Lobby is so close. However Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday and I needed supplies.

Well, I think I have a new love for Michael's. They had a lot of really cool stuff. One of my favorite things was a whole line of really cool products from Martha Stewart Crafts. Now, normally I am a little annoyed my Martha. Everything is just too perfect in her world. But her paper, ribbons and boxes are beautiful! I wanted to buy everything! She has this really cool ribbon that has an adhesive back. Brilliant!! Here is her website if you want to check it out... http://www.marthastewartcrafts.com

On a side note they had a whole book of Amy Butler paper. She is my most favorite fabric designer. So of course I bought the whole book. I don't really know what I am going to do with it yet, but there are a lot of possibilities.

Happy creating!

best night ever...

For those of you keeping up last night was the Third Day concert. WOW! They are the best.

Bobbi and I arrived early to get good seats. Of course we had plenty to chat about so the time flew by. We sat about 4 rows from the front. Perfect! We had a great view of the bands.

I was so excited to see Third Day. I probably squealed. Ok, I know I did. They really are the best band ever! It felt like as soon as they started to play it was over. It went way too fast. It was amazing.

Below are photos of Bobbi and Phillip, and Third Day. I am also going to post a few video clip (Nicola this is for you.)

best day ever!

I am planning on Thursday being the best day ever :)

blogging...

O.K. so I guess I have ignored this blog long enough. I have been in the work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep mode. I need to break out of that badly! This weekend I have been cleaning my really dirty house and doing a million loads of laundry.

Friday was the deadline for the Brookings Arts Festival (http://www.bsaf.com/) AND I entered! I am a little scared but if I am accepted it will be fun. I will need to start making jewelry now. But I think I am ready for it. I should know by April 15th if I made it in. I will let you all know.

Today is my mom's birthday. I miss her a lot, but I feel so blessed to have had a mom like her. God really gave me something special. I have learned so much from her :)

Well, thats my rambling post for the day. Happy Sunday!

doilies:

I am generally oblivious to Valentines Day. Every year I receive a card from my dad, on exactly Valentines Day. And I never remember to send anything. It just seems to pass me by, until I get the mail and realize once again that I have sent nothing (guilt!). I am usually all about holidays. So this year I am on top of it. I made cookies last night from my Grandmas recipe. Dad has fond memories of these cookies from his childhood. I hope mine are close. I even shipped the cookies today to arrive at his place of work tomorrow. Wow, I finally made it!

When I was at the grocery store buying supplies I was drawn to a package of doilies. Oh course I had to have them. They are very nostalgic for me and they were perfect to decorate the tupperware I sent the cookies in.

Doilies remind me of grade school. We always had to take an empty cereal box to school as our Valentine Mail Box. Then we would decorate the box. Then everyone would put the cards in the boxes. Oh, how I loved decorating those boxes. I remember lots of doilies ended up on those boxes. It even seems like sometimes there was a prize for the best box. I guess I was practicing for my current job even though I didn't know it. I kind of wish I was still in grade school :)

Happy Valentines Day

happy

I am so busy at work I can't see straight. However I still seem to be able to shop. Do I have a problem? Probably.

Today while shoving Culvers chicken strips in my mouth at my desk. I took a few calming moments and shopped on etsy.com. The best website ever! When things actually settle down I plan on opening my own FlatWear shop. I will keep you posted. Anyway today I found these really cool vintage beads. I bought 6000 beads for $70.00 and they are from the 1940's!!!!!! This is so cool. What a perfect addition to the vintage silverware. And 6000 beads does it get any better than this? Oh, and they are actually in their original packaging. This might be too cool to open.