Lilac Saloon

Announcement!

Evan and I have yet to formally announce our engagement.  My mom is asking me to choose a photo and write up the announcement so she can put it in our local
home-town newspaper. 

So... what do we think of this picture?

 

 

 

Soap Eye

This morning I woke up and got in the shower.  Sleepily I washed. 

As I snapped the lid shut on my liquid body wash... a gob of it sprayed directly into my EYE.  HAVE YOU EVER GOT A GOB OF LIQUID SOAP IN YOUR EYE?! 

I screamed in instant pain and turned the water to cold to rinse out the soap as quickly as possible to stop the burning.  I rinsed it and rinsed it for about 10 minutes until I had to give up.  I got out and looked at my eye in the mirror and it was blood red and crazy watery.  Ughhh!  Evan ran to Walgreen's to get me an Eye Wash and also some Visine.. to "get the red out" which both actually really helped and now my eye looks normal again (although still kinda hurts). 

Seriously... be careful with soap.  Ow.

Aside from that - another good weekend was had!

I headed out to the mailing office to send out a special package on Saturday.  It was for Kelley, the winner of little Chloe the felt flower.  I added a bit more to it to make it more special... so she wasn't just getting a singular flower.

 

After shipping the package, we went to the Diamond Cellar to see our wedding rings in wax form one last time before they're casted into the white gold!  Duncan (our ring man) also had CAD images to show me what my ring will look like.

Now I'm SOOOO excited to finally wear it!!

 

Then I came back home and made an apron!  A prototype for a design to go into my soon-coming Etsy shop! 

 

 

Saturday night we had friends over for an annual viewing of Hocus Pocus (one of the best Halloween movies ever!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsda4GJuzcQ

 

We drank mugs of apple cider out of a cauldron (it's a well known fact that it's the best way to drink cider).  Indulged in Halloween cupcakes, dug into a bowl of candy and even had some Oreo pie!  Yes, junk junk and more junk!

Peter brought a pumpkin and carved it so we could make the seeds for another snack!  Here he is:

 

 

 

And then later that night while we were putting in another movie - an old vampire movie from the 60's... the TV... BROKE!  It started to get kinda fuzzy/wiggly and now it just won't even turn on!  Well, it turns on but then turns itself off about 5 seconds later.  Dude... ugh.  I do not want to buy a new tv.  I am looking on craigslist for a cheap one - but then, what do I do with this tv?  It's huge, and it's not that old so it may be fixable and still worth some money.  I just don't wanna deal with it!  Darn it.

And now it's time for another workweek.

At least Halloween is next weekend!!  That, and also... another SAMPLE SALE! 

We have a winner!

Kelley from Dragonfly Reflections!!

I picked her name out of the cauldron and now she's going to be the proud owner of a Running Stitch flower of her choice :)

Yay Kelley!!

 

Felt Flower Give-Away!

I realized that I promised a Felt Flower give-away in my last post... but never announced a date for the drawing of the winner! 

Oh silly me!

I've decided to give plenty of time to people still wandering in from the Halloween Party over at A Fanciful Twist.  So I'll do a name drawing out of a black witches cauldron on Wednesday, October 22nd at 9:00 p.m. 

Remember - you must post a comment on the "Autumn Asks Questions" post or THIS post to enter the drawing! 

I made one more since the Halloween Party post - so here they all are again:

 

  

 

Autumn Asks Questions

Have you ever been to Michigan in the Fall?

 

Have you ever been on a journey where you actually took the time to notice and appreciate all the tiny details along the way?

Have you ever faced a fear - just to feel more alive?

 

 

Have you ever had a friend that just made you feel completely at peace, completely happy and completely loved?

 

Have you ever seen colors in nature that are so bright they make your jaw drop??

 

 

 

Have you ever looked at something that reminded you how amazing, complex and beautiful life can be?

 

 

 

Have you ever been exploring... and made discoveries that made you feel like a kid again?

 

 

 

 

Have you ever played scarf limbo in a pumpkin patch?

 

Does this remind anyone of "James and the Giant Peach"?  ;)

 

Have you ever seen something and thought - "this was meant to be mine"...

 

 

...and then gave it a home?

 

There are so many amazing smells... sounds... and tastes of Autumn... what are your favorites?

Happy Autumn everyone!  And most importantly - Happy Halloween!

**If you're new to the blog, please leave a comment!  I have a beautiful hand stitched Autumn felt flower (you pick which one you want!) waiting for a new home!  I'll randomly pick a new commenter to receive this gift from me with love!!

 

   

   

Which is your favorite?

Halloween Party Prep

For the past month now, we've been working from at least 9am-8pm almost every day at work.  Sometimes later.  It's very tiring.  It'll slow down again soon, thankfully.

It wouldn't be AS bad if I didn't have so many OTHER things that I wanted to do!!  When I get home from work, I have dinner and then it's 9pm!  So then what?!  I try to do a project that I'm working on for about an hour and then it's bed time.

The problem is that I have SO many projects that I've started or want to start and I just get frustrated with my lack of time to actually get INTO them - and most importantly - finish them!  Here's my list of projects I've started or want to start:

• Canvas Painting
• Painting the bookshelves (did finish one out of two! yaaa!)
• Embroidered peacock pillow
• Embroidered pirate ship pillow
• Suede & Skull Comforter
• Janie's Red/Black/White dress
• Free People Inspiration Journal
• Fall Felt Flower Bouquet
• Multiple piles of fabric waiting to turn into aprons
• Textile Designs to print on fabric
• Painted vintage picture frames for engagement photos
• Edit/Crop engagement photos
• Button & Ribbon necklaces
• Embroidery for Heidi's coat
• Altering Astrid's sweaters into vests

Soooo... that's a lot!!  All those things... could easily be a full time job.  I'd love it if they COULD be my full time job!

Getting to the point... the Fanciful Twist Halloween Blog Party is coming up this Saturday!!  I've been working (a bit...) on a project for that! 

Please make sure to check back on Saturday - as well as check out the other blogs that are participating. 

Also!  We've decided on our costumes for this year.  Peter, Evan and I are going to be Aberzombies.  Zombies in Abercrombie.  Like it??  Just WAIT till you SEE it!

 

Love Wins

There is NOTHING that makes you feel better than love.

True, honest, humble, faithful love.

I never believed in it.  My parents divorced when I was 6 years old and as soon as I was old enough to understand it, I kind of lost my respect for marriage.  It was just not a fairytale to me like it was to other girls.

Why would two people believe in their hearts - and make vows in front of all of their family and their friends in their church - that they are in love with each other and will be partners through life together - suddenly take it back?  What is the point of marriage to someone if it is not a real promise, only a temporary one?  As an adolescent, those were my thoughts.  I was taught by my mother to be very responsible and independent and with that I still held my skepticism for true love.  Both parents re-married - and... divorced again.  I saw them both go through tremendous pain and suffering and loss.  My last grain of hope for having faith in love went flying out the window.  Marriage started to scare me. 

My senior year of high school was when I met Evan.  He was sooo cuuuuteee and we both reeealllyy liked each other.  We started dating, but in my head I was thinking, we'll break up when I leave for college.  But when it came time, we had grown so close, so we tried to make it work long distance (without cell phones or cars!!).  It worked.  Four years through college, three months of me living in Pennsylvania, three months of me living in New York City, and a month of me living in Milan.  I got a job and we moved to Columbus together.  People always asked us (at least once a week) "when are you guys gonna get engaged?"  and "are you guys married yet?!".  I'd answer, annoyed, "I donno" and "No".  It's not about the wedding, the dress (well maybe a little about the dress!), the flowers, or the DJ - it's about the LOVE and our PROMISE TO EACH OTHER.

We are engaged now.  We haven't yet started planning one thing - except getting our rings made.  I'm not hurrying.  Why?  I did still have that old skeptic in me about love - even though I love Evan with all of my hear and soul.  I don't want marriage to ruin us.  I know it won't - because - it's US.  I know that love will win and we'll fight against those odds and we will not let petty things take us down.

I DO believe in real, true, honest, long lasting love.  I'm taking that skeptic within me and turning that attitude into something more of a warrior attitude.  Fight FOR love and not against it.

Evan and I are really close friends with a couple that I met in college.  Sarah and Charlie.  They've been together as long as Evan and I have, and they've also been though lots of long distance turbulence.  Last weekend - they got engaged!!  Then, this week, I got something special in the mail.

 

Sarah & Charlie - I'm so happy that you two are going to spend the rest of your lives together and I cannot wait to be a part of that commitment! 
I also promise to love you both forever :D.