the past 24 hours

not a flattering angle.

but as much as i wore blue a few weeks ago.

my heart will forever be red when the Cards are around.

a house divided:

but we still like each other.

a lot.

it was well past my bedtime

and the Cards lost

but I got to work

and saw a surprise on my desk!

flowers!

isn't he she the best?!

haha, my boss.

Happy Secretaries Administrative Professionals' Day!

winner!!

yay!

I think this is the first time I have won something and I am

SUPER

excited about it :)

Check out Jenni over here.

She is on my daily blog roll of people I check in on

(with out them knowing!)

and she had a give away

I entered

and won! yay!

I am the lucky winner of a CD by

Dave Owens

You HAVE to check him out:
HERE

it's a nice cross between DMB/Ray Lamontagne/John Mayer

just something you can slip into a CD player

and play the whole thing - without skipping a song!

a great weekend mix while doing things around

studio 809

I can NOT wait to get my hands on the CD.

p.s. check out Jenni's Love Story - it sounds like it came right out of a book.

Happy Tuesday :)

adventures in my own town.

I was anticipating rain all weekend

because that's what the forecast said.

luckily,

we didn't get a drop while traveling around town

I had so much fun.

Let me tell you, we did a LOT of walking, too...

 the bean

 lake michigan

*sax in the city*

the past week, or so

I had a GREAT friend visit from home

we did some exploring.

it was super fun to 'travel' in my own town

and

I'm beginning a new hobby/business venture.

(and, it involves hobby lobby)

details to come!

crafting

I could spend hours -

dollars!

at hobby lobby.

I could spend the night there and find all kinds of things to make!

And thank goodness for Pinterest,

introducing a new majority of women to the blog world

which finds all of us stumbling upon DIYs

crafts

recipes

photography

(those are my favorite categories on Pinterest)

I have been very quick to find, and try, recipes through blogs that I have known

and blogs that are new to me due to Pinterest.

Now, I can finally say I made the burlap rosettes, too!

They are so cheap to make.

The mason jars (love!) were half off at Hobby Lobby

and Burlap is $3/yd., or something like that

purchased some wire stem floral thingys

stone marble thingys

and wah la!!

new studio 809 decor.

THEN,

as I was wandering up and down the aisles,

I saw those sticky/removable/wall decor design decals

and i just had to snatch the ones below.

I was nervous, though, because I am renting

and wasn't sure if they'd be a mess once I'm ready to leave

809

so I snagged some canvas (2 for 7.99)

<which, by the way, isn't normally cheap!>

One lovely fellow dweller at HL started talking to me about

her painting career and how canvas is making it difficult for her to make profit

oh, the life of a starving artist!

(cause, I know all about that)

good thing about these sticker decals is

now that I have 'em on the canvas

I can keep them for awhile.

they'll be great in a new place

or even a classroom :)

they weren't as in expensive as the burlap project,

but the longevity may a last a bit longer.

photos taken with my iPhone.

why I didn't grab my camera

is beyond me!

good grief.

shriek!!

I LOVE

THREE DAY WEEKENDS

I believe that every weekend, should have three days.

you just need that extra day to do NOTHING

or maybe something...

catch up on cleaning, errands etc.

my sister calls those "getshidunday"

it is FANTASTIC to work in schools for those.

I was lucky enough to be off for Good Friday

(happy belated Easter!)

and I was able to be off the week before

the WHOLE week before

for Spring Break.

I am SUPER appreciative.

In the meantime, thanks to my cousin Matt

we were able to enjoy a pleasant weathered Easter

at the ballpark

filled with beer and NACHOS

and a Cubs win.

omg!

(what is going on with me?!)

no worries:

i have not completely turned to the 'dark side'

i will forever be a Cardinals fan

and you bet your bottom dollar i proudly wear my red at the Cubs vs. Cards games

BUT

we they were playing the Nationals.

why wear Cardinals stuff when they weren't even playing

(do you hear me justifying myself?)

well, whatever

the Cubs won, and it was a GREAT afternoon.

and, ya gotta admit, Wrigley has a pretty awesome environment

I love that it's still 'old school'

there aren't crazy songs, tricks, and gimmicks on the jumbotron

it's all about

the game.