Why I closed my Etsy Shop ~ AKA the March Newsletter
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Posts Tagged ‘lanabella’
I’ve been knitting, and knitting, and knitting.
I know I’ve been knitting a little here and there for a while now. In the past few months I’ve really fallen in love though. I’ve gotten good enough that I don’t have to look at my hands constantly while knitting anymore, I’m comfortable knitting flat or in the round, I’ve even added a ton of new skills like cables, short rows and even the provisional cast on. Sorry for all the pictures (I did mention I’ve been knitting lots right) I’ve been a busy girl. Clicking on the links after the photos you can read more about the patterns and yarns used.
Doesn’t this basket full of yarn make you want to knit?
It started back in October when I started knitting to make sure I had a jumpstart on the busy birthday/holiday season with this monster for Finn. Meet Maddox as you can see Finn loved his birthday monster.
Next up Lexi had requested a black cat ear hat. I was so excited to use my new stitch markers.
Isn’t Lexi so pretty with her ear flap cat hat?
When Lexi went up to Connecticut for the holidays my sister saw her hat and asked for me to make her one too. Rory modeled it for her.
I even made a striped version for my other sis (aka my little brother’s long time girlfriend Kristin) alas, I forgot to get a picture of it.
My very first cable project was a scarf for Lexi in hindsight I should have used a different yarn and my stitch markers much more because cabled rows are harder to count than I realized.
Then I started to panic. Aidan was leaving in Mid November to go to Baltimore for Thanksgiving and he had no hat and I only had 2 days so I had to use whatever yarn I could find at the local craft store at 8pm after a slight mishap with his first hat being accidentally felted in the washer. This slouchy hat was perfect and super quick to knit!
From October til about 10 days into December in between all projects I had a pair of these little mittens on needles.
A pregnant friend having a little boy needed a little baby shower gift. So onto the needles went this adorable little hat.
Isn’t it adorable? I still can’t get over just how small this newborn sized long tail hat is.
My mailbox had a happy, happy, joy, joy day when all this arrived one day.
And, I kept knitting mittens.
I started knitting Lexi a pair of gloves.
I finished one cat in the hat glove. Though currently I’ve also taken it back apart because the thumb was funny on it. Its a back burner project for now.
I started Jack’s birthday present.
Loving monsters.
I love, love, love the super long arms on these monsters, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that colorway yarn again either.
I finally finished the mitten advent calendar garland.
I started a cable rimmed hat for my little brother in the same green yarn from his scarf I made him last Christmas.
Thankfully this cable hat it was also a pretty quick project and I will be making these for the whole family if we ever live where we need hats again.
Cast on Rory’s creeper. If you or your kids play the game minecraft you know what a creeper is. Rory loves/hates them and its the ONLY thing he wanted for Hannukkah/Christmas so it HAD to happen. Even if that means knitting til 2am on Christmas Eve to pull it off.
And, pull it off I did. Here is Rory dancing with his Creeper.
Finn requested a dinosaur vs. another monster so a dinosaur he would get. The yarn for this is even called dino-RAWR.
Spent some time playing with my Christmas gifts, my ball winder,
and, swift.
Took a quick dinosaur break to knit myself up a quick pair of slippers because we were having a cold front and my toes were cold.
Went back and finished Basil the Brontosaurus who loves to give Maddox rides.
Then my girlie was coming home after a month in Connecticut and I knit her a little soft kitty as part of her Christmas gift.
You get a bonus picture because I think Lexi looks so beautiful in this one.
I haven’t stopped knitting I’ve been knitting a pair of socks. Socks take a long time but they will get a separate post I’ve been documenting their progress via instagram quite a bit.
Do you knit? Whats on your needles right now?
I made Aidan a Quilt
In the tradition I started of the year of making each of the kids a quilt the next birthday up was Aidan’s. HIs favorite color is blue I thought this would be super easy to work with. I was not so pleasantly surprised to find that so many blue fabrics are either boring or floral, making a quilt for a would be 13 year old boy florals were OUT.
This was the start of my fabric pull back in January. Not all of those fabrics made it into the final quilt though.
Of course I again forgot to take pictures while I was sewing the blocks together someday I’ll learn from all those quilt bloggers I follow and swoon over.
I layed out all the blocks took multiple pictures to make sure I had everything right. This is the movin on up pattern from Crazy Mom Quilts. Ignore those wrinkly guys at the bottom after I had placed everything I had to feed the kids so I just rolled it all up using the quilt I had put everything on I did re press them before sewing them.
While watching a movie with the kids with my ipad out for photo layout reference sewed those pieces into rows.
Ta da the top aka my part is done now it gets sent off to Tarabu for her to quilt.
I love the in the ditch quilting she did!
This was the BEST surprise! I had send binding and fabric for her to “do something” with the backing and Tarabu went above and beyond and blocked out Aidan’s name.
Where does the time go?
I’ve had it on my to do list to get to all the blog posts I owe from August on I’ve got 2 birthday parties, at least as many quilts, and a million other projects and recipes to share. Instead I’ll just go through my phone and show you what we’ve been doing via instagram. Honestly I just went through my photo stream and I haven’t even taken as many pictures as I normally do so you lucked out!
There has been knitting, lots, and lots of knitting. So much that I’ve also been hoarding yarn like it was fabric and it had outgrown its original tiny basket. It has now also outgrown that basket and the entire cubby it fits into and is spilling into the next cubby.
This face. How can you resist it I know I can’t.
I made a wreath you know like all those ones you see on Pinterest. Mine still needs a better (bigger) bow. Orange ribbon is hard to fine when the stores have switched over for Christmas.
The freak kids went swimming in November on a day it was barely 78. I think they were cold. I know I was watching them.
I started knitting these cute little mittens for a family experience advent calendar only 24 more to go.
I knit up a quick slouchy hat for Aidan’s trip to Baltimore for Thanksgiving.
Then my elf got his very own tree. Once he finished decorating he informed me it can stay up all year long.
I started knitting a pair of gloves for Lexi. This yarn is about the thickness of bakers twine and the needles are glorified toothpicks.
A Monster Birthday Bash was planned for Finn who was turing 4! Where did the time go?
This guy woke up happy as could be on his birthday!
My first adventure into cables with yarn that likes to twist in to its own drummer. A scarf for Lexi. She also got this beautiful shawl pin to go with it.
Our last event all while all the kids were together for the holidays was to decorate our tree together.
Happy Anniversary. To me.
Today is my 10th Anniversary. Its been 10 years since that morning my husband and I got in my car (running late because I couldn’t get my hair just right) and drove from my apartment in Springfield, MA up to Brattleboro, VT to get married. In jeans and a grey sweater and a thumb ring to make it official and keep it a secret while we planned a wedding. Along the way I also got pulled over for speeding. When I was asked what my hurry was by the police officer I excitedly said I was late for my own wedding. If you know me it was fairly typical that I’d be running late for my own wedding. So with my husband in the coast guard it isn’t often that we are together for our Anniversary I have big plans of dinners in the future though!
We got married before either of our cell phones had cameras and didn’t even own a digital camera at the time so sadly there are no pictures of when we actually got married so this picture from our wedding we had seven months later.
My gift to you is FREE SHIPPING just use code Anniversary12 at checkout for the next 10 days. What are you waiting for go shop now!
What special things do you do for your anniversary?
Our Washer Died So We Updated Our Laundry Room
One morning a little over a week ago I started a load of laundry unfortunately the washer wouldn’t drain at all. The pump didn’t even seem to be making any noise at all and we had just cleaned the icky drain thingy, so we knew that wasn’t it. Steve went and looked up the washer part and we found we could order a new one but because our washer is over 7 years old it would take a couple of WEEKS to get the part in. NO WAY!! I still had a little wiggle room on the emergency credit card, after some car repairs and the office makeover so I checked out online who had the best price. Lowes won with this model, I did check home depot, best buy, sears and anywhere else I could think of that was relatively close. We really lucked out when it all happened because it was on sale for 809 SWEET that was 90 cheaper at the time than anywhere else we could find the same one, plus being military we also get a 10% discount. That was a $271 total savings on a purchase we hadn’t budgeted for I can totally live with that. As much as I would have preferred to get the matching dryer our dryer is still mostly working (it takes a little longer to dry big loads and doesn’t always sense things properly so we are using timed cycles a little more often than before) but I am saving up so when ours decides to really not work anymore I can get a matching or at least similar one to the washer.
Once Steve got back from Lowes with the new washer I decided not to put it up on the pedestal the old ones were on which I had loved in the house we were in 7 years ago when we got them and they lived in my kitchen. Finn was totally delighted because he LOVES doing laundry right now and it was hard for him to work with a step stool and trying to move laundry from the washer to the dryer. Seeing just one on a pedestal made no sense so I had Steve take the dryer down too. The way the dryer sits away from the wall because of the vent though I knew we were going to lose a lot of laundry off the back. So I started looking at countertops, which were really not deep enough or really in our budget I didn’t want to spend nearly $300 on something just to hold bottle of detergent and to fold laundry on top of in a room that is only 5 feet wide and maybe 7 feet long with a pass through door even.
What was a girl to do? Head to pinterest for inspiration of course. These were my favorites 
I loved the wood and the white, the multiple shelves, the folding counter & the cabinet for hidden items.
Loved the rustic white & wood. Loved the cabinets. Wish my laundry room had a little window instead of seeming like a dark cave.
I put on my thinking cap and then remembered THIS POST. If I could just get Steve on board I knew it could be an awesome mix of a temporary mix of both of those laundry rooms.
I was going to link back and post a before picture from the house tour of the laundry room but I guess I never gave a tour of that room go figure. Here it is though because I did take one for my mom.
See its a weird pass through of a space and with oversize giant front loaders it makes it even more narrow. There is often a traffic jam here is someone is trying to switch laundry and I need something out of the garage for dinner or work. We even had to remove the door that should be (was) there when we moved in because of the washer there wasn’t clearance. Along the way since this picture I had talked Steve into painting the laundry room the same color we used in both our room & Lexi’s.
This brings us mostly up to speed for the start of this project. It is the most awkward space to try to photograph as well. That shelf is honestly mostly inaccessible for me because I need to get a stool and it’s just weird.
Steve took the measurements I told him roughly what to get based on the counter post from YHL and what color stain I wanted and bless him he even went to Sherwin Williams for me because home depot didn’t have low voc stain. I was on sanding and staining detail.
I planned on being awesome and get some action shots of the staining and painting and sanding but, while I was sanding the sky got really, really dark and it was a race against the rain to get first coats done. The stain is pecan from Sherwin Williams it was their house brand low voc, and the white is a semigloss for wipe down purposes. After staining I had to bring everything under the little sheltered area on the back patio so it was all squished in. Everything got 2 coats though and 3 coats of low voc water based glossy polycrylic.
The counters went in. Steve even took some of the advice on the assembly from John and went and got himself a kreg jig and I think is looking for more projects he can use it on. With the kids in bed I pulled out the caulk (much to Steve’s eye rolling) and filled in some of the holes and caulked the seam between the boards and down the edges because I knew Steve would probably want to start the cabinet assembly in the morning before I was ready to function and had to pick up the cabinet from a far away Home Depot that was near where he had to be at the crack of dawn for a Coast Guard function. The only thing still to “fix” is I need to pull out a paint brush and stain that little corner I made asked nicely for Steve to cut out to pull the counters forward further than he intended meaning the front would be flush with the door frame not sitting back the couple of inches behind the door trim.
We have cabinet frames! A little circle drill hole action and there are little spots made for all the hoses for the washer. This angle also makes it really noticeable that the left cabinet is 36 inches wide while the right is only 30 inches. That was done on purpose both to maximize space (the counters are 70 inches long wall to wall) and to account for where the washer valves are.
The doors went on. I was still indecisive what I wanted for cabinet knobs so the interim decision was tiny holes with some bakers twine looped through them.
I had to put up pieces of 2 inch trim on both sides and for lack of any better idea how to affix them I decided some wood glue and caulk should totally do the job. I put the glue on then carefully used painters tape to hold them there until they were dry (or the next morning) and put the top shelf piece on so they could be glued on 4 sides. A little more caulk on that and it was done.
I still wanted a shelf though. Steve was skeptical so I kept sending him THIS link until he was on board. Heck when he was at Home Depot looking for brackets because the ones I thought I wanted that I found online weren’t found in store I went HERE and actually screen shot the image of the bracket choices they picked from and said get me the bottom ones because I really like how they look in their kitchen.
Look what happened! The first bracket is up! Sadly my paint wasn’t totally dry and when we used the template stick to the wall procedure it pulled a little paint where I had touched up from the removal of the other crappy shelf.
The shelf went up. I love that the one on the cabinets is about 2 inches deeper than the bracket shelf.
I found knobs. They were probably the biggest splurge on this whole project. They are glass and I found them on etsy. I love them and they match the paint color and just really make the room I think. I even snuck in a 5th knob and put on on the drawer to my desk in my office it makes me smile.
I promptly filled up all that extra space. Now I have a place for all my table cloths that previously got hidden in the garage and subsequently never used. I have my baskets filled with my reusable shopping bags (after the truck theft and loss of one basket I no longer leave them in the truck), extra cleaning towels & just stuff that had been crammed in other places before and of course all the stuff from the original shelf is up there too.
I love how clean it all looks in there now. The little container of the BEST smelling detergent ever, while I miss its original container this one is much easier for a 3 yo to manage because Finn has taken over most of the laundry now that they are low and it makes him so happy to pull stuff out of the dryer and switch stuff and put a new load in. The best part is then he yells for one of his older siblings to come fold it.
So you don’t have to scroll here is the before again.
The laundry room after. I can honestly say it probably wouldn’t look as awesome if not for the inspiration of some young DIY bloggers out there who have a great blog that I rarely comment on (if ever) because I know they take the time to read every single comment and don’t want to take away from their family time just to say “OMG that is so awesome”, I quietly sit back and book mark posts for someday when we will be in a house for more than 2-3 years and its really ours.
My Pretty New & Improved Office Makeover
Remember back a little over a year ago when I gave you a tour of my office? Well I have to say it really hasn’t been working for me. The chair I loved the look of was so painful for me to sit in for even just an hour. I’m short my feet couldn’t quite touch and the mechanism to raise & lower it broke somewhere along the move I think. I did upgrade most of the salves & balms to a taller set of plastic drawers that I crammed in between where the french doors I loved so much and the herb closet doors were meaning neither worked really the way I dreamed. It also made keeping track of inventory really hard because each size were contained together but not each type of salve it was just not ideal but I didn’t really want to spend the money and plus soap storage is weird. In the past year I have transitioned from doing shows all the time and needing to keep things semi portable to not doing any for a while our life and schedule is just too tricky right now to apply and commit to shows when I don’t know if my husband will be out to sea or not when the time comes. Ok I’ll stop talking now and just let you see everything.
The view from the door way
BEFORE
AFTER
I really tried to utilize the space better including putting up a tension rod across the window where tissue paper is hanging the box next to the printer houses packing peanuts and those giant bubble things that come in packages that I take and stick in my box to use later. Its full now because well I was closed for almost 2 months. I even hung my show apron on the side of the elfa unit. That ikea epedit unit moved to were the desk used to be and there is now a different cabinet next to it because that old white dresser is being used in the guest room now. The desk is along the wall where the white dresser and plastic drawers used to be. I’ve also been busy hanging odds & ends pics of the kids on the mirror wall you know so I don’t scare myself.
The Left wall from the door
BEFORE
AFTER
Ok so the Elfa was a little more than the Ikea dressers I was looking at but the Container Store is also like an hour closer (being right down the street) AND I actually have more room now for not only finished product but curing soap as well. Though to be honest there is still some curing the old fashioned way in cardboard boxes because I didn’t think it was the best use of my time to move it to the curing drawers until i wrap it this week then move it again into its actually ready for sale place. The larger two units on the left hold all the soap, except the top drawer in the middle thats all lip balms and I need to find something to keep them separate which will mean another trip to the container store and after my credit card nearly melted the last time I’ve been avoiding it. The right unit is salves each TYPE has its own drawer so I can now see at a glance when I need to make more of something. In addition to the salves the upper deep drawer has a jumble of deodorants that Finn was so proud to put away for me I haven’t had the heart to go straighten them out so go BUY some deodorant so I have less to organize, please. The bottom deep drawer has face washes, cleansing grains & body butters.
On top of the elfa
I call this my staging area for lack of ay creativity left in my head. I have all of my packing mailers, bubble mailers, some paperwork I still need to get to, my post cards, red sharpies for writing on packages, paper clips and enough space to stand and write out the thank you cards. Note the mask moved from paperwork over to the desk area. I took this picture a couple days ago and then didn’t finish the pictures because my desk was still a mess and kids wanted me to cook dinner. I also really love that since the younger boys got kindle fires I scored myself a 20 generation ago ipod touch which lives permanently on my speaker thing with pandora I think the kids are getting sick of my Pogues station though but I had a TON of work to do in here.
I really love how much space I have up here to work.
The window/back wall
BEFORE
AFTER
One of my big pet peeves with the old layout besides the soap drawers being so low were they were all the way across the room so I started thinking more kitchen work triangle this time around. Initially I was going to assemble the orders along the top of the elfa, the problem is usually the kids help me pull the orders so they wouldn’t be able to easily see up there without a stool and that would be a pain with those drawers, so I’ll keep them on the lower ikea expedit so I can still get some help. In those bins now only teas. One tea per bin all in order. AHHH so simple.
The right wall
BEFORE
AFTER
I’ve also decided where most people have a dream board I’m going to have dream walls all over my office. Starting with those mirrors, on the right side is pictures of my kids, on the left mirror are things I desire in my someday home. The important stuff though is the stuff in the middle, lots of motivating pictures and phrases to help me on my fitness/weightloss journey. Ok and there are a couple possible haircut ideas and a picture of my next tattoo want. Look I even have some halloween decorations on my desk.
I’ve been skirting around this though now in glimpses in bunches of pictures. My NEW chair. I saw it a couple weeks ago before any of the other stuff even happened and told lexi I really liked it but didn’t really want to spend the money on it. I waited I pondered and the other day I pounced and splurged. I figured I spent all the other bazillion credit card melting dollars to make me want to work in my office to be in here and as long as I had a chair that I physically couldn’t sit in for more that 20 minutes it would me negatively impacting both my Lana Bella work and my physical transformation work. I love, LOVE, love it. Its probably my favorite part about this whole office makeover. SHHHH don’t tell my husband though he thinks those spendy elfa shelves are my favorite and maybe they are a tie after all.
So what have you been doing or thinking of doing to make YOUR life easier?
P.S. if you use code MAKEOVER in my shop or on Etsy take a fun 20% off your order.
Taking a short break. Shop closing Aug 1- Aug 27
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Slowing Down and Smallering for a New ME!
I have to honestly say the past 3 years business wise, personal wise & family wise have been such a whirlwind. From in 2010 my business grew to SIX TIMES what it had been in 2009 and 2009 had already DOUBLED 2008. I was in awe. I was and have been struggling to keep up ever since. I have felt constantly behind always wanting to do more, make more, be more, create more new products trying to fill everyone’s needs. The person’s needs I was ignoring most of the time were my own. In the past 3 years I have gained an additional 50 lbs on my already overweight 5′ 1″ body . I can’t even begin to tell you how many times in the past few years at shows someone would come to my booth and tell me they had been following my blog or heard from a friend about my products but just didn’t expect me to be so fat. I’ve mostly laughed it off saying things like “yeah 3 term pregnancies in 5 years will do that to you” or “I have no me time with 3 kids I’m homeschooling and an infant/toddler” when what I really wanted was to cry. Every single time I thought about a missed sale or connection because I was fat. It was time for a change. In the 20+ shows I did from 2009-2011 this is the ONLY picture I have of me with my booth, and the only reason is I was being photographed with the winners of the scavenger hunt for my herbal tea.
Image from http://fentonstreetmarket.com from 2010
What does this mean for Lana Bella? Well I recently started project me aka Jenni loses 100+ lbs by my birthday next year. To accomplish this for my self-esteem, for my health (please lets not discuss how there are plenty of bigger people in better health than some skinny people because I know for ME being 100+ lbs overweight is not healthy for my mind. body or spirit), for my spirit, for my family, I’ll be pulling back a little. I’ll be saying No a little more. I’ll let things run out of stock once in a while. It’s honestly a lot of work keeping 50+ soaps in stock never mind the other products. I’ll be keeping more accurate inventory. So when you order a 3, 4, or 6 pack of soap and you want x of something please don’t be angry if you get an email back and I say I’m sorry I only have b left would you like a substitution? I’ll be setting aside only two days a month for making what I get done will have to be enough. I will add a third day in and get prepped better for holiday. I will warn you though there will only be 45 bars total of the holiday soaps I won’t be making more that gives you from Nov 1 (I’ll have them ready a little earlier this year) until they sell out to get them. If you know now that you want 12 of something for teachers gift or stockings please contact me soon so I can get in into my schedule. Also know that because of the multiple shops and the single inventory I am human so there may be time when an order comes in that I haven’t adjusted inventory elsewhere I’m sorry in advance, and hey you might luck out and get an upgrade in size because of it 
.
I find it a bit ironic that when I started my business back in 2004 I had found an article on another diaper makers website about smallering. It made so much sense then and I tried to follow the ideals. Then in 2010 doing shows was a total new whirlwind for me. I am ever grateful for all those shows financially they really helped us to do so much with our family, that never would have happened otherwise. For now to move forward though I need to slow down. Somehow I have a 3.5 year old and nearly two teenagers, life is moving too fast and I don’t want to miss any more of their childhoods.
You might find me blogging more though there will be a lot of transformations happening. I’ve also started a second blog. I was on the fence about this for a very long time. I only wanted the responsibilities of maintaining one blog, however I wasn’t sure how much I was ready to share about my weight loss journey. In the past week its funny it has 9 days I’ve decided I’m pretty comfortable with sharing it all but I’ll spare you that journey and instead refer you to the other blog so you can follow my weightless transformation over there. If you have been struggling with it yourself please contact me I’d love to discuss with no obligations what I am doing and how excited I am. I’ve hated clothes shopping for a really long time however I’m really excited about buying exercise clothing go figure! I’m really excited about the changes and I hope we can all still work together.
This also means I am more than ever open to wholesale. I’d honestly rather spend those 2 making days a month making a really big order and put it to bed and have that much less responsibility.
Thank you for all of your support over the years and I hope in the future! Lets bring it!
Hey Charleston, SC there is Lana Bella in town!
That’s right kids you can now find select Lana Bella items being stocked by Lily Carriers LLC! Rachael recently contacted me about stocking some goodies for all you Charleston dearies so you can now get your fix.
Currently she is stocking all sizes of Blissful Baby Balm
Small tins of Any-y Thing Salve, Serie Breathe Easy Balm, & Buggy Be Gone! Balm.
Large Bags of Nourishing Womb Tea, Yummy Nummy Milk Tea, Pretty in Pink Tea, Wild Adventures Blend & Ramblin Relaxer.
Almost Naked Soap.
Sitz Bath & Baby Herbal Bath. OH and the baby baths she has come in an adorable bag and includes 2 hand made baby washcloths.
She is also has some Pretty in Pink & Vanilla Lip Balms.
So don’t wait and contact Rachael and get your Lana Bella fix if you are in the Charleston SC area!
What’s for Dinner
The other night I was watching TV with Rory and an Olive garden commercial came on and he asked me if I remembered when we used to go there to eat. Now the last time I remember going to Olive Garden we were still living in Charleston, so that brings the time back to 2009 or earlier. He talked for a good 20 minutes about how he loves that you can have lots of soup and breadsticks. Now Olive Garden style Zuppa Toscana has been on our menus at least monthly for YEARS probably since 2006 maybe earlier. It’s one of everyone favorites. So I figured this week for meals we would eat soup, salad and breadsticks all week. A different soup every night with salad and breadsticks. Tonight we kicked that off with Chicken Gnocchi Soup. I found the recipe over at CopyKat Recipes I didn’t compare much it was just one of the top hits off google.
I totally forgot how much I loves me some gnocchi. See you for tomorrow’s installment.
I made a quilt…for Finn
In theory I should have made Aidan’s quilt next but I just couldn’t wait to make Finn’s. Fabrics changed slightly since this photo was taken.
I squared up my already finished blocks and cut out enough to make Finn a lap quilt like I did for Rory. 
Whenever the camera comes out Finn is never far behind.
The quilt will match his stocking and is the same Bizzy Kid Pattern, you can buy it HERE. It has 2 block styles but because of my fabrics I had 3 so I had to not only rotate A & B blocks but A & B1 or B2.
So after cutting out 224 individual blocks and then sewing together another 128 together into sets I sewed my first block A to block B1 and then had to put everything away for a visit from my mom. 
After her super short visit I pulled everything back out and got to work though. This quilt gets assembled in columns vs rows and then alternating my B1 & B2 made my brain hurt a couple times. Shortly I had my first column done though.
I was determined to finish at least one of the quilt tops before the end of the night. Excuse the bad lighting it really was about 10 when I finished. The “better” looking one was actually taken with no lights on in the dining room at all and is the lap vs twin size version.
Its now all packed in a box awaiting its traveling companions to head up to see Tarabu and get quilted.
We went to the zoo… day two
Rory and Finn had so much fun at the zoo it was all they talked about. Steve was coming up for the weekend from Key West and I mentioned that maybe the following day we could all go to the zoo. The kids LOVED that idea. I also decided to bring my telephoto lens instead of my standard lens on the second day. I’ll spare you the eleventy billion animal pictures (except a few I can’t resist) that I took.
I thought a picture with the peacock would be a nice tradition. Then we rented one of those pedal car things they have here. It really was a nice change from the day before when the boys & I walked the whole zoo.
We also went backwards from the way we went the day before so the giraffes happened very early on. I just loved the interaction between the mama giraffe and her baby. The kids fed them too but I wasn’t up on the platform this time because there was also a classroom up there.
The Okapi was trotting in circles too which Finn loved.
Another new tradition with the post lunch kids in front of the pot o’ gold.
I was so excited when this butterfly landed right in front of where I was standing.
I was really admiring the lions when that butterfly had happened past. This guy saw me and gave up quite a few poses for me. Thank you sir.
Of course we made sure to be over near the chimps and the gorillas for feeding time. The boys had even more questions today and even answered a few of their own. This is JJ and his daughter Alice getting ready to have some snacks.
We ended the day once again with some dippin dots and home we went. I being tired forgot to get a dippin dots picture today sorry. I was too busy capturing images of the flamingos/
So what is your favorite thing to do at the zoo?
We went to the Zoo
Yes this is another post that happened back in April. It was so much fun. Lexi, Aidan & Jack went with Tia Diana with her to work at the Discovery Channel. So left with just Rory & Finn we headed to the Zoo! My Mom had gotten us an annual pass as part of our family holiday gift and we had yet to use it. Had I realized before hand just how big the zoo here in Miami is things may have been different but we had an amazing day. 
The boys wanted me to take their picture before we even went in the gate with the peacock. The really loved all the little animal statues through the park and made it a point to pose with every single one and because I think they are totally adorable I took pictures. To be kind I’ll just post a gallery at the bottom and add just my favorite experience from the day.
After we had lunch I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Rory & Finn in front of the pot o’ gold.
We wandered around a while and happened upon the chimpanzee feeding time. He answered all sorts of questions from the boys and made a friend for life in Rory when they went in one of the caves and I didn’t have time to warn Rory it would be loud and he just reached out his hand and let Rory hold it. This is Rory’s hair and Finn’s hand next to JJ the gorilla’s foot through the glass.
The LOVE LOVE LOVED watching the gorillas get fed. Even more Rory really loved JJ and learning about him. Both of the boys even asked questions and I love that the zookeeper spoke to them and answered their questions without speaking down or dumbing down the answers. 
Finn was so excited to see the Okapi. I did have to stop him from trying to climb the fence he wanted to touch one so badly. I love that Rory was just as excited for Finn.
Then we fed some Giraffes, ok the boys fed the giraffes. Then Finn got licked by a giraffe which if you are 3 was the most hysterical thing that could ever happen.
We ended the day with some dippin dots for the boys and a cold water for me. It was pretty awesome it was the first time they had ever had them and it totally won me mom of the year in their eyes!
Stay tuned for our next adventure.
Salve and Balm Packaging
Its been a while since I posted anything business related so here is a sneak peek at all of the new salve packaging. Some of you may have already received packages with the new labels but if you haven’t look at how amazing they look! They were designed by the AMAZING Meredith from Jack & Molly. Its been a few months and I STILL get really excited every time I print up a sheet!
The lovely Ant-y Thing. This salve with a funny name has a funny name for a reason. You see it was created when my too curious little boy wanted to see what would happen when he messed with some fire ants. Well anyone who has ever been bit by a fire ant before knows they bite and they HURT! Well he got bit 35 times on his arm that we could count it resulted in a visit to the emergency room and prescriptions for more creams and ointments than I care to have to use with my busy life and well not a one of them was natural and many had chemicals that we avoid. I put my herbalist hat on and thought back to some wisdom from Rosemary Gladstar and created this good for just about anything salve and gave it a funny name to make my boy smile and it stuck.
Arnica Muscle Rub. A specific external treatment for physical trauma, sprains, bruising and other injuries. Use immediately after strenuous exertion or injury to prevent, relieve and reduce swelling, bruises and pain.
Blissful Baby Balm. I know for my babies I only want to use the most gentle ingredients on them so that is what happened when this balm got reformulated. Simple, gentle goodness.
Buggy Be Gone! Balm. As you find with my other products this one also came out of necessity, I was on the hunt for an all natural bug repellent that work and this is what I came up with.
Healing Ink Balm. When I was getting ready to get a tattoo I thought back to the Tattoo Goo I used on my first one. I didn’t want to purchase something when I could make my own so I looked around and thought about what you need when you get a tattoo and that is all about skin health with out damaging the inks. I also wanted it to smell nice because that makes me happy. Did you know that helichrysm essential oil is being used in trials for both hepatitis and HIV? I didn’t either but I love how it smells and thought that was an amazing coincidence so in it went.
Serie Breathe Easy Rub. I don’t know about you but here with the windows closed and the chill in the air and sometimes having the heat on we are getting some stuffy noses. Especially at night, and most noticeable in our two year old. I wanted something I could grab in the dark half asleep in the middle of the night and something that was NOT petroleum based. Why not use the same blend as in our wonderful serie soap and aromatherapy products. A blend of Rosemary, Eucalyptus and Lemon essential oils as sure to get the job done!
Lexi’s Hunger Games Inspired Birthday Party
It was a busy week around here baking, baking and more baking for Lexi’s Hunger Games inspired party. I have never seen my girlie this excited about anything. I really loved being able to surprise her with this. I think one of the biggest surprises for her was our dear friend Diana also dressed up as Effie Trinket as Lexi dressed like Katniss on reaping day. Don’t they look wonderful?
If you have read the books you know that foods especially breads are discussed so much and play such an important part of the story so that is what I tried to recreate. With the help of pinterest and Fictional Food I found so much food inspiration.
Peeta’s Burnt Fruit & Nut Bread (left) and of course District 11′s crescent rolls.
Goat Cheese and Apple Tarts. Which were probably my personal favorite food.
I also made (and forgot to take a picture of) the Lamb and Dried Plum Stew. I did just use beed but it was pretty awesome.
The first gifts Lexi opened were wonderfully planned because we can’t eat those wonderful Capitol foods and it still be reaping day.
A dress for the transformation into the girl on fire.
A dress for the transformation into the girl on fire purchased on Etsy.
Some makeup to complete the transformation.
The coal inspired necklace were from the ever lovely Lauren. you may notice there is no makeup on in this picture, well thats because I didn’t get a single standing picture of this dress during the party so I made asked her put it on the following day for this post of course.
We served food after this and with five kids I put down the camera which means there are no pictured of the orange juice with their cute paper straws and bottles or of the stew.
Then she opened the rest of her gifts.
Diana even brilliantly disguised her gift as as a tribute gift.
A Katniss inspired charm bracelet.
With extra charms inspired by her favorite characters & events also found on Etsy. You also get a glimpse of her new girl on fire inspired glitter ring also from Lauren of Jersey Girl Design.
I attempted to make Cupcakes on Fire from THIS tutorial. As you can see the fact that my kitchen was 84,000 degrees the odds were not ever in my favor for this one. They were still super yummy though and Lexi loved the idea.
She blew out the candles and made her wish. I hope it comes true for her.
At the end of the day we wished our friends well with some little treats to munch on the train their way home.
She is growing up
I can hardly believe as I sit here and type this that my little girl is now a teenager. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was scurrying off in the store to hid under clothing racks, or climbing into my bed during the night. For a few weeks I’ve been planning a Hunger Games inspired surprise party for her, no easy task to do when she is my helper and home 24/7 but it was slowly happening. Unfortunately some plans fell through and she wasn’t going to have a sleepover where I could transform everything so I had to rethink my plan. That is when I had a brilliant idea. So this morning when my late sleeper girlie was awake before I was I sat her down at the table and gave her some very simply wrapped gifts. If you are a fan of the movies at all the twine used on the package was a mix of black, red & orange.
The first of the three gifts to be opened was the invitation that was sent to everyone else already. I had seen a few invitations on both pinterest and etsy however I only needed 1 to be printed and I was on a budget for this party so I designed my own.
Now my girl is in love with all things Hunger Games. I have never seen her this excited about something before she reads and rereads the books has seen the movie twice so far and references people and things in the book as much as she can work them into conversation. Add to that her love of vintage clothing and light blue being her signature color as she told me proudly when she was three and I knew I had to find her a “reaping day” dress. I lucked out on etsy of course.
Last but not least was the gift I’ve been teasing her about. She has been asking for weeks about her birthday and her gifts asking what she was getting if she was getting a mocking jay. I’ve been smiling and saying yes and that it was a real live mocking jay and hidden in my desk drawer.
Happy Thirteenth Birthday Girlie! May all your wishes come true!
Lexi being the amazing kid she is said I should use her birthday and have a sale. So use code CATNIP for 13% off and every order places until her birthday will receive FREE either a Pretty in Pink lip balm (originally created as party favors for her 10th birthday) or a small bag of Pretty in Pink Tea (made with my girl in the same year). Please let me know which you would prefer or it will be Lexi’s choice!
April Recap
If I thought for a minute that March was busy April was even more of a whirlwind. Most of the pictures I have for you today are food based. Apparently I really take that food = showing people how you much you love them to a new level.
We had some AMAZING white “lasagna” I will call it that even though I really used wavy noodles because that’s all that was in the pantry that day OOPS. It was so YUMMY!
Easter was a quite affair. We invited our great friends Julie & Steve over for dinner. I love that she really loves my kids and they love her.
Julie made the Cuban style pork she made for Christmas Eve again and some banana bread pudding. I made a ham Sweet potatoes two ways (just salt & butter and Cardamom, brown sugar & butter), green beans, cheddar rolls, and cookies. 
See how yummy it all looks. Don’t you just want a bite?
The following weekend was Steve’s CCTI (Chief’s Call To Indoctrination) weekend down in Key West. Julie her Steve were staying at the house with the kids. It also meant that I would completely out of my comfort zone in a dress, heels, makeup and done up hair. Oh and I’d have to eat at a semi formal military event with 100 people I don’t know and do it with style and grace and braces. I lucked out and found an adorable dress. I left around noon and it was my first time driving down the keys. I wanted to pull the truck over 84,000 times to take pictures it was so beautiful, unfortunately for me I was on a deadline to get there in time to finish getting ready before the dinner. I am however really good at driving and just hitting the picture button on my iPhone and totally kicked out with a ton of in focus pictures that look great once the frame of the car window and/or the barriers cropped out.
So I got there and got myself ready. I wish we would have thought to get a picture of us towards the beginning of the night it was so hot that by the end of the night I didn’t feel quite so pretty anymore. Hair was courtesy of some old school pin curls. Those shoes that’s me in FOUR inch heels, MUCH different from my usual footwear.
This is steve and his sponsor Keith (his wife however was on the ball with the pictures thanks so much Brittany), don’t they look great in their uniforms?
Here we are at the very end of the night. Steve looks so happy I’m trying to smile so I don’t look weird or show my braces. I fail.
The next day was our only full day together. An alone day no kids no worries no time table. We walked and walked around Key West. We stopped at the “southernmost point” but I did not want to wait in the over 2 block line to get my picture takes with the faux bouy so I was content with this picture instead.
It was HOT. We rented one of those little electric cars to see some other areas, ironically minutes after we got in our little electric car it started to rain and boy did it get windy. We headed down to Smather’s beach this little palm tree on the beach was just adorable and you can see how windy it was.
Being stubborn I was determined wind and rain or not to get my toes in the ocean.
As we were heading back to return our little vehicle these kids in the RV ahead of us were cracking me up. Once they saw me pull out the camera they really started hamming it up. I figured if they put that much into their performance the least I could do was share it with the world.
We headed back to our room and discussed dinner options. On our way back we stumbled across this family of lovely little wild Key West Chickens because I LOVE chickens and have literally been dreaming of owning my own for 7+ years now.
I really wanted a steak because the dinner the night before left me a little dissatisfied I also didn’t want to walk very far because I’m the girl who tripped while walking earlier in the day and my hip was really sore. We ended up at the Prime Steakhouse. I have to say it was FABULOUS! I had really wanted a steak so I got the bone in rib eye with the smoked gouda & black truffle mac & cheese OMG! That mac and cheese will be had again someday! I also got the Desperate Housewives Martini. Seriously I really want to go back there for our anniversary.
It was bittersweet the next morning having to head back home. I had to leave my husband behind in Key West, but I was really anxious to get home and see the kids!
I snapped this picture of the old seven mile bridge on the way home using the same technique as I had on the way down. The only downside to this technique is the bazillions of unusable pictures in-between the few good ones.
Somehow after the dinner Steve and I really got talking about tattoos I’ve been on an ink hiatus since our marriage really being pregnant and breastfeeding for most of it. I really got the itch though and couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted so I combined 3 designs made an appointment. You have no idea how shocked I was when Steve made one too. Off we went one Friday evening to Colorfast Tattoos to see David to get some ink.
There was a little bit more awesome woven into our lives in April but I’ll share that with you in a post of its own.
March Recap
I know I know I said I’d never write one of these again but life with 5 kids is honestly a whirlwind and I feel lately like I’m constantly struggling to keep up with everything.
After Rory’s party things just kept flying by. Some pretty cool things happened though. I got a bike! Yup thats right I got a bike the kids and I were riding daily through our neighborhood, taking nightly walks and somehow I lost a bunch of weight, which is what inspired the bike purchase. Isn’t she cute? I have to admit this is the first time i’ve ridden a bike in close to 20 years.
Then one day Finn and I did something awesome together. We pulled out the herbs and he designed his tea blend, just like his siblings did. He was so proud and he loves to get out the teapot and put the herbs & honey in all by himself and have a cuppa or three because he likes to do everything in threes these days. It will be in the shop soon I just need to think of a name and get it listed. Do you have any ideas?
I also got my craft on a little at my husband’s request. You see he was going through the Coast Guard CCTI program and he needed a fancy charge book and always on a budget I said why don’t we make you one out of your old uniforms. In my head this was an easy task UNTIL he added on all sorts of requests like lets make it so you button it closed, and do you think it can have pockets on the inside and some other things I don’t even remember now that I’m pretty sure I vetoed.
A major thing that happened here which had been pretty awesome in most aspects is BRACES! Thats right BOTH Lexi & I went to the orthodontist and got braces. Its something I’ve always wanted to do and almost did once before as an adult and figured we could do it together. If I had known just how much is was going to hurt though let me tell you I would have probably skipped it, the bonus is I’m losing more weight because of it because well it hurts to snack/eat to I’m eating more smoothies and juicing and skipping that late night tv snacking.
To finish out the month Finn was looking through Jack & Rory’s old Main Lesson Books from when we were using Oak Meadow and he wanted an A gate picture too. What kind of mom would I be if I didn’t then read him the Story of Peter Rabbit and draw with him an A gate picture. Then for fun I posed all three boys together with their pictures so you can see how the different gates of our backyards have influenced my drawing. Please ignore the marker all over Finn he was fighting Zombies according to him.
It’s Party Time!!!
That’s right its that time of the year again where I celebrate MY birthday with SAVINGS for you! And its a big birthday so we are talking HUGE savings!!!
Yes I know its the same cupcake from last year what can I say I REALLY like red velvet!
Oh right you want to know about the sale, use code HAPPYBDAY2ME for 36% OFF thats right I’m old HUGE savings until the 20th (5/20) (lets face it on the 19th I’m taking the day off) to CELEBRATE! Available in ALL shops! Now you go shop away I’m going to pack some orders that need packing. Yes I will accept cupcake mail for my birthday!
