New Blog for the New Year

Hi everyone!

I've decided to start a new blog for 2009:

http://bytkg.blogspot.com

I decided that since I closed my jewelry business I didn't want to keep blogging under that name. So I just took the "jewelry" part off. My new blog will be EVERYTHING by me - my favorites, my thoughts, my pictures, my crafts...Hope to see you there!

Hope you all have a fun, safe New Year!

Owl

We were driving home and saw this owl about a quarter of a mile from home. I didn't have the right lens, so we drove home and came back to see if it was still there. I got some really great pictures of it. We can hear them at night, but we've never seen one. It was very exciting for us.

Rescued from the snow

Our HOA hired someone to dig us out. The snow has been melting pretty fast. I'm actually looking forward to being able to drive in to work tomorrow.

White Christmas

Look what I got!

Hello Kitty 3-qt. Popcorn Popper

This isn't something I would buy for myself, but totally LOVE that I got it as a gift!!

p.s. I thought the snow was done, but now we have rain/snow mix. Will this ever end?! *sigh*

Merry Christmas!

Our tree, complete with vintage electric train set from the '40s.

Environmentally friendly water bottle

Precidio Aluminum "Red Flower" Water Bottle - macys.com

After being stuck at the FedEx facility for the past 4 days, my new water bottle finally arrived. Being trapped in the house makes a visit from the FedEx driver that much more exciting. (MORE snow today. Can't believe it.)

Pictures from Thanksgiving in Hawaii

I miss being at home.

Online window shopping at Nordstrom

I'm still stuck in the house from all the snow. What better way to pass the time than window shop at Nordstrom?

Coach - Bleecker Metallic Tote

Nadri - Crystal Bangle

Armani Collezioni - Ottoman Knit Jacket

Linea Paolo - Blush

Juicy Couture - Bow & Charm Long Cashmere Gloves; Ruffles & Bows Cashmere Scarf; Bow & Charm Cashmere Hat

Lucky Brand - Floral Dial Bracelet Watch

More snow, more dvds and a couple of magazines

More snow is expected. We ventured in to town today to save me from cabin fever. We stocked up on more DVDs and I got a couple of magazines in the mail. I think I'll be good for a few more days.

Shoe Sale

Nine West.com is having an additional 30% off the sale price and free shipping if your order is over $25. I want these...

McSteamy - $48.99
Hearts - $34.99

Luvu - $41.99

Snow and cabin fever

We never get this much snow. It's crazy. We've had close to 10 inches in the past 4 days, with more to come. I think the most we've ever had is 3.

I've been stuck in the house for 4 days and counting... I'm going a little stir crazy. Some things I've been doing to pass the time:

• A ton of baking and this may be my new favorite cookie.
• Lots and lots of laundry.
• LOVE this blog my sister recommended to me.
• Balancing the checkbook and paying bills.
• So happy they won their last & Coach's last home game.
• Made "thank you" cards.
• Went here and rented a ton of videos...some okay, some not that good.
• Re-reading this series - sad but true.

I may have to venture in to work on Monday just to get out of the house for a few hours. Hope everyone is warm and safe.

Back...busy...behind

We're back from our trip. It was so relaxing and nice to be around family and friends. I miss it already.

We dove right in to the holiday with decorating, getting ready for our annual party and shopping/wrapping/mailing. Things have been a whirlwind. I'm so behind with posting picture, posting my blog, writing and sending cards.

I hope that after this weekend things will calm down and I can get caught up on everything. I have some pictures from our trip that I want to share... hopefully soon.

Have a great rest of the week!

Warm days ahead

... not here in Seattle. It’s been nice and sunny, but soooo cold! We leave on vacation tomorrow back home to Oahu. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with my family. I can't wait for all the good food, warm weather and of course to see everyone.

We've already got our Christmas decorations up in our house so we don't have to worry about it when we get back. We'll just have to get a tree, which in itself is a huge task. It’s a little weird to be surrounded by Christmas when we haven't even had Thanksgiving, but it does put me in the holiday mood and makes me want to shop and wrap gifts.

I hope you all have a delicious Thanksgiving, short lines on Black Friday and a great week overall!

Computer bling

I was flipping through my Allure and saw this

so I went to look for it here and found these too

Not on my shopping list, so I'll have to pass for now.

Etsy Favorites

As Black Friday nears and so many stores are having huge sales, I am still trying to buy as much handmade products this year for gifts as I can. Here are just a few of my ETSY favorites.

Soiree Print - Stephanie Levy

Autumn Kiss - Papercut Art by Tina Tarnoff

Small bunny vase - pretty random objects

The red flower wall hanging - the little stitch by parkersewn

Signature 'Dahlia Press' card - dahlia press

Hope you have a great weekend!

Blown Glass Pumpkin

Last Thursday, my girlfriend and I went to artbyfire to make blown glass pumpkins. Neither of us had done blown glass before, and I am still kicking myself for forgetting to bring my camera! But it was so much fun, we both want to go again.

They let us choose between 4 different color combinations and we more like helped them with making the pumpkins. They did all the hard parts - like making sure the liquid glass didn't fall off the pole, fixing the pumpkins when we made their shapes look more like an eggplant, and making and attaching the stem. We got to put the colored glass onto the liquid glass, heat up the colored glass in the ovens, and blow through the pole to make the bubble.

We were disappointed when they told us we couldn't take them home that same day. We're both all about the instant gratification! But my girlfriend pick them up on Saturday, and here it is:

So much fun! I can't wait to do it again.

Decorating my side of the room

My craft workspace shares the room with our workout equipment. I have one side of the room and the equipment is on the other. My husband had some boxing posters on the wall, but he took them down and is letting me decorate my side of the room. So now I'm in the process of finding some inspiring things to hang.
Some things I've ordered:
*these peonies by fieryeyed photography
*thistles by Abby try again
*this tree by Buttons Magee

I'm pretty excited with my purchases so far and can't wait to get them all framed and hung!

No lunch today

So I had a whole fun, upbeat topic that I was going to post today while eating my lunch BUT I cooked my edamame, picked up the first pod and almost puked. There was a worm (or a maggot, I'm not really sure) half way out of one of the beans and some brown gook in the pod. It was so disgusting, but like the car wreck that you can't turn away from, I had to keep looking at it and poking at it to the point that I don't think I can ever eat another edamame again. I tried to take a picture, but I only have my phone camera and it didn't do it justice (plus I thought it might not be a good idea to post that... the few readers I have might never come back!). So instead I showed it to a few other people who are now foregoing lunch today as well, thanks to me. And because I can't get it off my mind, I decided to share with all of you my utter disgust.

(BTW, do you like the melodrama? I'm famous for it. Though I kind of wish you could see the worm, then you wouldn't think I was exaggerating quite as much as you think I am. Plus this is giving me flashbacks to the time I was eating a peach and had a BIG bug come out of the pit... needless to say I have a thing about inspecting my food before I eat it.)

I think I need to eat something totally fake, processed and fried for dinner. Something with no chance of having a bug in it.

Ending...

I have decided that I will stop my jewelry business at the end of this year. It has been fun, but I just don't feel totally inspired with jewelry making right now. I'm thinking of opening a new business that's more generic where I can sell different types of handmade items and not be locked into just jewelry. But for now, I will just take some time off from being a seller and enjoy being just a shopper! I'm also considering moving my blog over to a new name, something that's maybe more just about me. But haven't made any decisions about that either.

BUT, because I am closing my ETSY shop, I am also offering HUGE DISCOUNTS on all my pieces. Unfortunately some of them are starting to expire and I won't be re-listing them, so hurry and take a look! Each jewelry piece comes in its own white gift box.

If you're in the Seattle/Redmond area, I will be having a closeout sale on Nov 15. I will also be in Kailua, Oahu for another closeout sale on Nov 30th. Please email me (jewelrybytkg at yahoo.com) or leave a comment if you'd like to attend either of these.

HOPE

I'm so nervous for the outcome of today. I've seen the predictions and they are promising, but I am still waiting with baited breath for the final results.

November is here

In some ways I can't believe its November already, but I am also excited for the upcoming holidays.

It was pouring rain today, but in one of the breaks we got out of the house and found some leaves still on the trees. It has also been incredibly windy, so the trees in our neighborhood are bare. I've enjoyed fall so much more this year now that I am taking the time to notices the colors, the cold and anticipating my trip home for Thanksgiving.

This was finally delivered on Friday, it was on back order forever. I've been playing with it all weekend and I have decided it will be part of THE holiday card this year.

Hope you've had a great weekend and did something fun in your "extra" hour!

Pumpkin Family

Just had to sneak in one last post of the pumpkins we carved =)

Happy Halloween!!

A card I made this year for Halloween.

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Olive Chips/Crackers

I have a reaction to wheat, so I'm always trying to find wheat/gluten free alternatives. I just found these chips/crackers at Whole Foods. They're so good. You can really taste the olives in them. I ate these with my chicken salad (which I put dried cranberries and celery in). Delish!

Seattle Artist Treasury

Check out some of these amazing Seattle artists and their ETSY shops.

Treasury expires on (correction) Sunday.