Things I Love Thursdays: Royal Hats!

This is a treasury I did back when the royal marriage
thing was going on.

I. Love. Hats.



ESPECIALLY CRAZY BRIT HATS!!!!!

I really wish that a) I looked good in hats and
b) Brit hats would come into style here in the south. :)

This actually isn't the whole treasury, but some of the
items sold so it is a mini-treasury.

Here are some more super cute hats:


ohmygodohmygodoh.my.gawd!

I freaking love this hat! lol The seller also has one
in a GORGEOUS hunter green. If I was a
redhead there would be no stopping me.

The Shop: HouseofNinesDesign
The Listing: Pretty Purple Mini Top Hat



Wouldn't this be THE most perfect hat for
a bachelorette party!? lol I would wear it.

The Shop: janinebasil
The Listing: Pastel Green Glitter Mini Burlesque Crown



*GAAAASP!!*

*falls over*

I NEED this!

The Shop: BlazingThimbles
The Listing: Peacock Mohawk

I have a deep-rooted love for peacock feathers.

I can't help it and I wont apologize for it.

;)

In fact, I'm so inspired by this item that I'm pretty
sure next week's TILTs post will be about peacock feathers.

-Ri

230 Project - Week 6

I'm actually doing this on time this week!

Yay!!

Day 36: Monday 6/20/11

The day started out...fun.

I had left my old rain boots outside the day before
and one of the dogs ate one.

My bad.

Day 37:

Not my kitchen. Boo!

I've talked with Barry about a mini-remodel
for our kitchen. It is very...dated.

So the plan, once we buy the house, is to sand down
all the badly stained wood paneling and paint it white,
then paint the walls a dove grey and when we get a chance
we will get the butcher block counter tops from Ikea.

Yay!

Day 38:

Really cool thing happened!

I was playing around on Handmade Top 10
and all of a sudden, I saw once of my items, and my
name, up on the main page as a SPONSOR!
(I'm the orange coffee sleeve on the left)

I was like woo hoo! Wait. I didn't pay for this.
O.M.G!! What is happening!!!??

So I email the website's help guy and he told me not
to worry, he was just checking out Etsy, looking for
free sponsorship opportunities, he stumbled on my shop
and chose me for some free sponsorship!

Holla!

I have had so much success from this (more views) that
I fully intend on, once I lose the free sponsorship, to put a
cuter item up.

Day 39:

New product!

I was crocheting a new shawl to put up on Etsy,
Barry came home so I asked his expert opinion :) on
the ratio of grey to navy blue (I know it looks black but
it's navy blue) and he goes "Oh, that is an awesome scarf!"
I was like baby...it's an incomplete shawl.

After some back and forth we decided that this was
and awesome scarf. :)

It has the angle of the shawls but it is only a scarf and
we really like the offset stripe. So I will soon be offering these
in school colors.

Its going to be the "Ivy League Scarf"

:D

Day 40:

Not my photo but this is what I made for dinner.

Recipe Here.

It is Garlic Chicken with White Wine Sauce.
It's super easy to make and, according to Barry, the garlic
is really great. They don't really explain the "browning" of
the chicken. You need to sear the chicken so that it actually
looks brown so that once you simmer the chicken later, it doesn't
look like a sick...pasty piece of chicken. :)

Day 41:

Another new product!

This is a spin-off of my coffee cup cozies,
but it is for BEER! :D

This item is smaller than the cozies and it keeps your
hands from being cold and wet while drinking your beer.
It fits on both bottles and cans.

I love it!

Day 42:

I went to a baby shower on Saturday (I know this
is supposed to be Sunday's post, but I'm cheating) and
I gave the happy couple a handmade baby blanket.

Their blanket was pink and white for their little girl.

:)

So that was my week. It was actually really quiet,
Barry was working all week (yay!) so the house was
strangely empty.

-Ri

Things I Love Thursdays: Organization Printables!

I have a new series!!

(as if I had time to spare lol)

Things I Love Thursdays will showcase items that
I love from Etsy.

Today's items come from CleanMamaPrintables
She is a former teacher and a current organization enthusiast!

I LOVE lists. I make lists for e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.


This nifty little kit is for holiday planning.

Each holiday has a page and each page includes a spot for
menu planning, guest list, decorating ideas, traditions,
and general to-do.

For the serious bloggers, or for the
forgetful-need-a-reminder bloggers this list
would be supremely helpful!

Aaaaannnd for the perpetual
I'm-going-to-lose-the-weight-for-real-this-time peeps,
maybe this log will help!

To make things even better, her shop is now featured
on Heartsy so you can get a $25 voucher for only $12!

Happy Shopping!

-Ri

Handmade Top 10

Hey peeps!

My Sunshine Yellow Cabled Coffee Cup Sleeve
is SOMEWHERE in this thing. :)

This is a new endeavor on my part to get more people
to see my items.



-Ri

230 Project - Week 5

I'm finally caught up!

WHEW!!!

That was a freaking marathon!

In the last post I had to fix the "Day #" bits,
I got off at some point but now it is fixed.

Didn't want you guys thinking that I was cheating.

;)


Day 29: Monday 6/13/11

And I wonder why I can't lose weight. lol.

I don't normally eat a ton of deep fried food,
but every now and then...the craving strikes.

Day 30:

Poor Kinsey had to have surgery on her ear. She had a
hematoma that needed draining.

It was definitely an awkward place for the surgery to happen
so the bandage didn't stay on very long. In fact, it waited until
we got home...in the door...and then it fell off.

Three days of fighting to keep a bandage on her head without
choking her followed and now she is doing much better. :)

Day 31:

Barry sprained his ankle on one of his jobs (they had worker's
comp, hallelujah!) so I went with him on this little independent
film to help him out. :) He pointed, I worked with some other
guys. It was a lot of fun.

It was so hard though! lol I don't remember it being that
hard!!!!

I would love to do it more though. :)

Day 32:

Sick/gimp boy got to pick dinner. Freebirds.

Love the way it tastes, hate what it does
to the waistline. :)

I got a tiny freebird so I don't feel too bad, though.

Day 33:

My first ever coupon use! We used it at
Jack in the Box. Pretty awesome!

I plan on using more coupons, but I don't clip
coupons unless they are the brands I like and that I will
buy so my couponing experiences are generally not as exciting
as what you would see on Extreme Couponing.

Day 34:

Cracker Barrel for breakfast!!! I almost beat Barry
at checkers...but then our food came so he said
we had to eat and quit the game.

;)

Day 35:

For a homage to Daddy, I bought an above ground pool.

Daddy always took us to Galveston so I became a
huge water baby. It was on sale at Target for
$150 + $180 for the saltwater system which I TOTALLY
recommend if you are going to buy an above ground
or put in a regular pool.

It is 1/3 the salt content of tears and you don't have to
worry about chlorine, algae killer, etc - EVER.

Do the research if you are planning on putting in a pool.

----------------

And now I'm DONE!

No more writing!

I'm flippin' tired! lol

Love you all!

-Ri

230 Project - Week 4

This week I was lax...but I have a good reason.

This week, instead of doing a 230 project post,
this post will have photos of my Daddy who
passed away on June 6, 2011.



Day 22:

Daddy was in the military, he never really talked about
it other than to tell me that he went to boot camp with Elvis.

:)

Daddy loved telling stories for their humor...not necessarily
for their truthfulness. :) But Barry and I are going to try and find
the graduating class of Elvis and see if it was true. If Daddy wasn't
kidding...I'm going to feel stupid lol.

I don't think he ever served though.


Day 23:

Daddy with my half(?) sister Brenda. She lives in Falfurrias,Tx
so I was happy to get to meet her. :)



Day 24:
Daddy in the beginning stages of his cancer.

Every time the doctor would come in whenever I was
around he would tell Daddy: "I can't believe you are alive...
never mind that you're harassing the nurses and they're liking it."

LOL!

Daddy was what you could call - a horn dog. :) He loved
women and he loved children and he loved making children
with women.

;D



Day 25:

Daddy with my other half sister Sandra. She is awesome!

While we were dealing with the funeral, I think Sandra
and I laughed more often than cried simply from the
absolute craziness of the family.

:)

Day 26:

Another photo of Daddy with Brenda.

Day 27:

This is the last photo I have of/with Daddy.



Day 28:

This is my half brother Abraham (Jr.).

I don't have a picture of Abraham Senior and Abraham Jr.
together so this will have to do. :)

I also need a photo of my other half sister Susan. I saw her a lot
when I was 10-ish and still living with my dad, but after that
I didn't see her too much. She needs to get on FB. :)

This has been a crazy week...I've been doing well. I had
a small freak out in Smoothie King, which is where I was
when I got the news but other than that, I've been doing ok.
I was on my way to see him when Sandra called me, but she told
me that he had passed around 5AM, so it wasn't like I missed him
by 30 minutes.

I'm going to miss him, but I think that I will miss
the idea of "the perfect, doting, non-absent" father more than
I will miss Daddy himself. I know that is probably not a nice
thing to say, but we weren't really that close until he got his cancer.

Daddy was a wanderer, :) and I won't hold that against him.

I still love him and I hope he is in Fishing Heaven
catching The Big One.

:)

Love you Daddy,
-Ri

230 Project - Week 3

It's that time again!!!


Day 17: Monday 5/30/11

Mom and I enjoy watching Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Don't Judge!

:) She also enjoys squeezing little Anya!!

Day 18: Tuesday 5/31/11

This. Blew. My. Mind.

Apparently, Rice University in Houston, Tx has a piece of the
BERLIN WALL on it's campus. I've included a link to Wikipedia
if you'd like to refresh yourself. :)

I had no clue this was here, Mom and I were driving around campus,
looking for a certain building and I saw this piece of concrete sticking
out of the ground and my first thought was "This is Rice U, wth is a piece
of concrete doing in the middle of nowhere?" this was followed
IMMEDIATELY by "This is Rice U, why haven't they fixed the graffiti on
this weird piece of
concrete?"

:)

Then, when Mom and I finally made it to the building we were looking
for, I noticed a plaque on the ground. I walk with my head tilted down
because I don't want to trip over anything. :) It said "A section of the
Berlin Wall" I was like "Cool!" and I looked up...and it was that weird
piece of concrete lol.

Day 19: Wednesday 6/1/11

Margaritas and Steaks with Mom and Mark!

We finally fired up the Margarita machine from Mom's birthday
last August. I would just use a blender. While this machine is efficient,
it isn't that much better than a blender. Save $100 and buy a really
great blender.



Day 20: Thursday 6/2/11

I'm so official! My tall mannequin came in!

I have a table top mannequin that I've been using and while
I am so grateful to Mark for letting me have it after his mom passed,
it is a bit thick and a little old so it doesn't photograph well...
apparently people enjoy looking at skinny mannequins.

:)

Day 21: Friday 6/3/11

It was freaking hot. And I wasn't at the beach. grr.

Day 22: Saturday 6/4/11

In deference to the heat, I bought a bikini. I bought the top
and completely ignored the bottom, instead opting to buy a
plain white bottom from Victoria's Secret.

I like the top, it ties instead of latches so it wont stretch out after
wearing it two times. Last year I bought VS tops, thinking they would
know more about girls with bigger boobs and would adjust their
strapless tops accordingly...that would be a big negative.

So instead of spending $40 on a top, I went with a $15 top.
Works the same and it is in both one of my favorite colors and
one of my favorite patterns. :)

Day 23: Sunday 6/5/11

This photo Cracks. Me. Up. Whenever I have a bad day
I look at it and giggle.

:D

-Ri