One Dolla, One Dolla!

Soo... I mentioned that we came across a very exciting find at the mall the other day. We were waltzing along, and I was being a little pitiful about not getting a cheaply made, but adorable old lady purse when  Andrew spotted a store. He suggested that we go in it... I reluctantly agreed because of my pitiful state. The store was called Glitter.

We walked in, a sales associate asked if we would like a basket, I declined. I ventured over to the shiny necklaces that caught my attention. I started oohing and ahhing over them... and then I noticed a sign.

All accessories $1. My first reaction was "no way!" followed by "are they serious?!" and then repeated those for the next several minutes. Sure enough, it was the real deal. Andrew immediately searched out a basket in preparation for what was to come.

Andrew put me on a budget- smart man. He also suggested that I look at the big, gaudy rings for a project that I've been working towards for the past two years. I did just that. Here's what we left with...

Four necklace AND earrings sets. Yes, each necklace came with a matching earring set. This was such a hard decision to make.

11 bling-bling rings. I am very, very excited about this find. Andrew surprises me with what he pays attention to, especially when it comes to my crazy crafting ideas. I've been collecting brooches for this project for a while now, and when he saw these rings, he knew that they would work just as well... and they were an absolute steal! He's pretty cute : )

I also got this earring set for graduation. I really like the colors in this set. Luckily, I have a necklace at home that matches these earrings perfectly. What an inexpensive way to accessorize for graduation!

What a fun, fun store. I could have spent the entire afternoon in there. Good thing I was on a budget... and good thing I have a husband who didn't mind waiting on me while I bounced back and forth between jewelry sets.



It's a Nest!

So, after my post the other day, I discovered something very sad... a storm blew away all of the nesting items on my porch. I then left for Kentucky for the weekend, and when I came back yesterday, there was still nothing on my porch. I thought my chances of seeing something cool were gone. Then, I got home from extern and school today, and I was met with a nest! Yes, this awesome nest was built in a day.

I am pretty excited to have something to cover this horribly ugly light up. Like the streamers? Look closely- there are shoe strings hanging down.

Close-up of the nest. See if you spot these items... zip ties, duct tape, carpet backing, shoe strings, live grass, and twigs (duh).

I am excited to see if eggs will be in here soon. I had to use the camera to see inside the nest. Nothing yet, but I'll keep checking!

This bird is pretty creative. Actually, there are two birds working on this nest. As far as I can tell, they are robins. I came eye to eye with one of them... I feared for the safety of my eyeball at this encounter. Why they chose the light RIGHT next to my door I'll never know... I would think I would like more privacy than that. Oh well, I believe we can co-exist.

Since these pictures were take two hours ago, a muddy layer has been added to the top. Interesting.

God's creations amaze me... what a fun way to pass time!



Kentucky Weekend

Andrew and I met in Kentucky this weekend. We had so much fun together. We didn't do a whole lot of exploring, but we really enjoyed just spending time together.

Andrew typed up "Abby Friendly" directions before I left. He's pretty sweet like that! I love how they start out with, "Don't be nervous..." because he knew that I was a little (ok, a lot) worried about driving that distance on my own. My sense of direction is not that great. I'm proud to say that I made it safely... and without problems.

On Saturday, we went to the mall for a little bit. I will blog more about this experience tomorrow (or sometime this week). I am pretty excited about what we found while we were there. After the mall, we had a lunch date at Red Lobster. When we finished lunch, it started to pour, so we decided to go to Wal-Mart to purchase Tangled (and rent some other movies), and then we headed back to the hotel to cuddle up together and spend the rainy afternoon watching movies.

Since I had planned on warmer weather, I only brought shorts and a t-shirt to lounge in. When it's cool and rainy outside, I think I get chilled right down to my bones. Anyway, Andrew wrapped me up like a cacoon while he fixed dinner. I was toasty warm in no time.

Andrew made a pretty awesome italian chicken dish for our dinner. We really enjoy staying at the Homewood Suites because we can cook our own meals at them. I am especially thankful to have a husband who can cook!

The only problem this weekend? The hotel staff here didn't leave ducks like the one in Ithaca. So, Andrew made one for me each day! Again, he's pretty sweet like that!

Before we left this morning, we listened to the podcast of the sermon that I posted last weekend. It was so nice to hear God's message while with Andrew. I really look forward to when I can sit next to him in church every Sunday, and we can spend our time growing together through God's word.

It's not too much longer now : ) We have two weekends apart, one together, another weekend apart, and then it's graduation. It is such a shorter amount of time now, but it's still hard to think about the time that we'll still have apart.

Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend (just much too short!)... my batteries have been recharged. Once again, I'm thanking God for giving me such an amazing husband who makes my world complete when we're together.



Nesting

Something is nesting on my front porch. At first, the activity wasn't very suspicious, but now it's blatantly obvious. Check out what's been happening behind my back lately...

First of all, don't mind the dirty house. It's going to get scrubbed soon. This was the first sign of activity, however, I thought that the wind is what cause the grass and twigs to get caught in the spider webs. This happened after the big storm we had this week.

The past two days have brought even more strangeness. First of all, notice the zip ties? Those were in a bucket beside the porch. Now, they are strung all across the porch in front of the door. I did not do this. Notice the other nesting type material? Again, I did not do this.

The tip off? The start of a nest in the back corner of my porch.

Here are just some more materials that have been gathered. It's quite and interesting conglomeration. I have a little bit of carpet backing, some wool looking stuff, zip ties, twigs, grass, and I'm sure others items as well.

This morning, as I was walking out my front door, I noticed a bird flying away with two zip ties in its mouth? The culprit? Possibly...

Anyway, I can't bring myself to clean it off. Sure, it looks a little trashy, BUT I kind of what to see what is going to be created! Stay tuned, if it turns out to be cool, I will post again : )



Wish List

This is easy, just click this link:

http://www.etsy.com/people/zafirenia

and go to town!

More specifically, I would like these items:

I would love this to wear at graduation.

So fun!

This one definitely caught my eye.

Adore the color scheme!

Perfect.

Cute, cute, cute.

Great color choices!

Very fun!

This seller on Etsy knows how to craft! Please check out her page... her work is beautiful. If she sold matching earring sets, I'd definitely be in trouble with Andrew!!



An Absolute Must!

This morning, I attended my home church. I have a very hard time going to church without Andrew- my spiritual leader. Today's sermon made me miss my husband even more than I already do, but it blessed my life in so many ways. I am so thankful to have a husband who lives by what this sermon teaches.

If you think you have marriage all figured out, or if you feel like something is missing from your marriage, please listen to this sermon. You won't be disappointed- it's worth it.

Visit this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tbcsermonpodcast and listen to the sermon from April 3, 2011. It is worth your time. It is definitely a message that I believe every couple needs to hear- and implement!



Where's Gato?!

I was on the phone with Andrew when this little shenanigan took place. I had just folded this blanket as I am trying to straighten up the house. Needless to say, this blanket will need to be folded again.

I laughed really, really hard when I looked down to see what all the commotion was. He is currently just as snug as a bug in a rug. He does so many adorable things... this cat has too much personality for one kitty!



yay, yay, YAY!!!

As most of you know from my facebook status, I passed COMPS!!! Wooo hooo!

It's been a long, long road... but, the news that I passed made everything worth it (almost!)!! COMPS are a scary thought, because everything we've done boils down to 50 multiple choice questions and 4 essays. If we didn't pass, we couldn't graduate.

So, I was VERY relieved to hear "job well done!" YAY!!

What did I do to celebrate? I ordered graduation announcements! I didn't want to jinx myself by purchasing them too soon. I will send them out with pride. This major is TOUGH, and no one can fully understand unless they've been through it as well... unless you've been around someone to see the many tears, hard work, and frustration involved.

With that, I owe many thanks...

Andrew- Thank you for always supporting me. Thank you for being understanding when I was crabby and for encouraging me to keep going when I wanted to give up. Thank you for being my rock, my shoulder to cry on, and my motivator. We are one HUGE step closer to being together. YAY!

Mom, Dad, Steve, and Anna- Thank you for being my own personal cheering section! You are wonderful parents, and you made this possible! Thank you for your many prayers, and thank you for understanding why I couldn't visit home more often.

Tyler, Miranda, Izaak, and Zoe- Thank you for being awesome siblings and supporting me in all that I do. You guys are great!

My Grandparents- Your love, prayer, and support meant more to me than anything!

The Rest of my Family- You guys are AWESOME! Thank you SO much for your prayers and encouragement!

My In-Laws- Thank you for all the prayers! They kept me going.

My Grad School Friends- You know what this is all about! Thank you for being so awesome to be with... WE DID IT!!!

& that's just the tip of the iceberg in all the thanks I owe (especially for putting up with me this semester)!

Now what?! Well, I will take the Praxis on April 30th, and I still need to complete my Capstone Project. That all seems like a piece of cake at the moment, but I am sure it will create a bit of stress as the time gets closer!

Classic Charms

I was contacted with a request for custom stemware charms. I excitedly agreed to do this order. I explained that I would need to wait until COMPS were over, but as soon as I was finished with them, I knew I would itching to craft. Perfect timing!

The color scheme? She wanted the charms to match her black, red, and white kitchen. I told her that I think 4-5 colors look best, so she asked me to accent with brown. Since I didn't know how well brown would go with these colors, I chose a steely brown. Boy, did she know what she was talking about! The color choice is pretty fabulous and very classy.

They're such a pretty little set. I will ship them tomorrow, and I hope she enjoys them as much as I do! It's going to be hard to let them go... it's a good thing they don't match my kitchen! ; )

This crafty business is pretty neat. Just as I think it's starting to die down, I get several orders. This is the third one I've accepted this week. I've reduced most of my prices on my already-made stemware charms. So, if you're interested in a great deal, check out my Etsy page at www.etsy.com/shop/TailorMadeByAbby



Lemon Loveliness

I really, really like lemon cake. I mean really, really, reeeaaallllyy like lemon cake. I have never been able to figure out the tangy lemon glaze that adds the wonderful crunch to a delicious slice of lemon cake. I had a box of lemon cake mix in my pantry that I've been wanting to use, and I got a craving for this tasty treat. So, I decided to make it. I didn't want to use premade icing for this cake, nor did I want to use cream cheese icing. It's just not as good that way. So, I looked up several recipes online and came up with my own. After sharing this cake with a friend and hearing her rave about it, I decided it is definitely blog worthy.

The Cake:

No secret here. Just grab a box of lemon cake mix.

Mix according to directions and pour into pan.

Bake like you're supposed to.

Remove and cool.

The Good Stuff:

What you will need:

Two lemons.

1 cup of powdered sugar.

Squeeze about 3 tablespoons of juice from the lemon. I am sure the kind from a bottle works just as well. I always have fresh lemons on hand for my water, so I just used the real stuff.

Mix the juice with the powdered sugar. If you want, you can grate a little of the peel to put in this mixture. I didn't do that.

Pour glaze on top of cake. Let it harden.

Serve and enjoy the tangy crunch!!

Attempt #1 was a success! I MAY try to add a little butter to the glaze next time, but that's doubtful. The cake passed my high standards... and, like I said earlier, my friend raved about it. So, you better believe this is going in my recipe book.

Sweet. Simple. Super delicious.