Fun times, come along!

Look at that pretty mocha latte I got at Urban Standard in downtown Birmingham, AL.

It's an eating place/coffee shop.
It has delicious sandwiches and specialties for lunch,
along with desserts and coffee.

I ate a yummy chicken salad sandwich before I had the latte. ;)
I really enjoyed the eclectic decor. I want it in my house!
I thought it had the perfect vibe for a downtown hangout.

Enjoying some milk!

Later in the day we played with bubbles outside and made huge bubble clusters and my son had a blast. I had fun too, I wanted to be the bubble maker because it was so fun! But I tried to be a good sharer. :P

We did the bubble thing again the next evening(last night) too!

Can you believe it's the last day of June already?

Fashion Inspiration: Try something new

1. 6.27.10, 2. Return Of Color, 3. Day 80 - 21.May.2008, 4. Autumn

Try something new! If you always wear muted colors, try something bright. If you always wear bright, try something toned down. If you always wear dresses, try a pair of shorts or pants, and vice versa! Wear something you normally wouldn't and go outside your comfort zone(within your own limits).

Self-packing suitcase

Self-packing suitcase

Originally uploaded by ThatSwede

I wish I had a self-packing suitcase like in this photo!!

I am almost done packing for me and Kavi to leave tomorrow with my parents. It's a 9-10 hour drive. But Kavi does well on it usually. He is already well traveled for a 2 year old, he is lucky! He has been on this 9-10 hour road trip many times since he was born along with two trips to India(way too long flights!!). His first road trip to Alabama was when he was 2 months old. Oh wait, technically he went to Alabama while in my belly when I was 18 weeks pregnant! :P Before we even knew he was a he!

We will be gone about a week and a half. My husband will drive up on Friday to be there for the weekend and then we will drive home together after the holiday.

My family has lived in Alabama a little over 2 years so far. They moved there from here! They still find new things they hadn't seen before in their area. And now there is a new sno-cone place that they have been raving about that I will be trying while there! We have a lot of plans of where to go while I am there, plans that mostly revolve around food or coffee hehehe. We never accomplish every single thing we hope to, even when we are there longer! I'll still be posting some entries here.

Ikea time

It was time again for another Ikea visit! I have been hanging out with my parents, and didn't prepare a Flashback Friday.

We went to Tampa today. We went to Ikea and fabric I really wanted wasn't in stock. I got two other fabrics(just one yard of each) but I really wanted the other ones! It was still fun, but it's always tiring to go to Ikea even if I am just getting a couple things. It's just such a huge store to walk through.

After that we stopped at an Indian grocery store and I bought lots and lots of Indian goodies. We ate a bunch of it for dinner.

Tomorrow I have to pack for me and Kavi's trip to Alabama with my parents!

Vintage Thursday: Plates

This picture looked so pretty to me. Shabby chic:

Vintage Set of 4 plates

This is more of a mod style:
Mid century blue and green plates

That's all for today. Having a nice time with my parents visiting!

Change of plans!

In a good change of plans, my parents are due to arrive here at any minute! They were supposed to arrive Thursday night. Yesterday my dad told my mom last minute to get ready because he was good with leaving! What's funny is that he thought it was Wednesday yesterday and couldn't understand why my mom thought it was so early to leave! It was after they left their house to leave and went to a bank that my dad realized it was Tuesday, not Wednesday! lol But we are happy to have them come early and stay here longer before me and Kavi head to Alabama with them on Sunday.

I also wanted to share a picture from the Etsy Craft Party last Friday. It's of me and my friend who went with me. I wasn't going to share it because I get self conscious about myself(and no I am not fishing for compliments hehe just telling the truth). But I want to share it, and I think my friend is so cute too. Her hair is naturally pretty red.

The Upside

I'm sure I am not the only one who goes on emotional roller coaster rides. Lately I have been on the upside of one! A couple weeks ago I was feeling down. It doesn't last all day, it just comes once in awhile. The reason is because sometimes I feel like my social life hardly exists. I went from having an active social life to having hardly a social life at all a couple years ago. My family moved, our church also moved(since my dad is the pastor! hehe), and then more friends moved. I grew up going to church every Sunday and actually really enjoyed it, helping out in many ways over the years. Now, we feel somewhat lost about what church to attend. I just loved what I was used to and nothing seems to compare to it. So when those thoughts weigh heavy on my mind, I feel a little bummed out. But then I get encouragement from others and know that I have to be happy in our current situation and not just always look for something to happen in the future.

So like I said, I feel mostly good since a couple weeks ago. There are a couple reasons why that I'd like to share!

#1-I feel like we as a family have been more active lately. Not only in the exercising sense, but in going out and trying to have fun. I stay at home with our son so I don't get tons of adult interaction during the week. I do go to stores and take him out, but you know how it is. I just feel like I have been less bored and lonely lately.

#2- My parents will be visiting this weekend, and then me and Kavi are leaving to go back to Alabama with them on Sunday for a visit! My husband will drive up before fourth of July and then we can all ride home together after the weekend. So I am looking forward to that!!

#3- WE ARE GOING ON A 4 NIGHT CRUISE at the end of September!! Did my CAPS hint my excitement?? :) I have never been on a cruise before. In the past I wasn't sure it sounded like something that appealed to me. But then after hearing some good experiences, and seeing good prices, we knew we wanted to do it. We are even bringing our son! And now also my sister and a close friend are going to come along. It's going to be a very fun time at sea with a stop at Cozumel, Mexico. I know it will be very touristy, but I haven't done much touristy stuff in awhile so I am really really looking forward to it!! We booked the cruise a couple weeks ago, I just hadn't gotten around to talking about it here.

I sold the above pillow on Sunday night, seemed to fit in the the cruise talk.
I had listed it a few months ago and I am so happy it finally sold!

Our Father's Day

To celebrate Father's Day we decided to go to a beach that's about 45 minutes away. My husband had never been to that one, and I hadn't gone in over 10 years. It's in Tarpon Springs, Florida. You drive from a nature park area with pavilions and playgrounds across a causeway to the little beach island.

Sorry for the poor quality, these were taken on my cell phone camera.

We hung out at the beach for about 2 hours. Then we changed into dry clothes and left. We drove back north a little bit and went to have an early dinner at Cracker Barrel. That was kind of a spontaneous dinner spot decision. I think we felt tired out from being outside and were really hungry, and so we wanted that kind of food - mac n cheese, hash brown casserole, mashed potatoes, etc. I think the day went very nicely for my husband. He is an excellent father to our son. He plays with our son all the time, helps me take care of him in every way, and our son is always so happy when daddy comes home from work!

This is one of my favorite pictures of them together, taken in April 2009 while visiting my family in Alabama.

An adorable silhouette picture of them, taken on my sister's cell phone.
April 2010, just a couple months ago during sunset at a small local beach.

(if you missed the previous post about the giveaway winner, just scroll down :) )

Giveaway Winner!

I used random.org to choose a number...and the winning comment was #12:

Reneek!
Congratulations!

I will be in touch to find out what color bead you would like with your locket.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments! I think my most treasured piece of jewelry would be my engagement ring. It was made in India with dark Indian gold, but with a stone from a ring my grandmother had sent to my mom, which she gave me to. When I went to India in 2003 I brought the old ring with me, it was a very very simple ring. We had the stone put into a new kind of Indian looking setting. My other favorite would be a filigree, antique style white gold plated ring my husband bought me for our 1st Anniversary in 2005.


I am also offering a 15% off promo to those who entered and/or read the blog. If you would like to use the discount, contact me before you buy something to get the price adjusted -or- type "blog promo" in message to seller and I will send a 15% refund of the item's price through paypal. Thank you to all who entered!

Etsy Craft Party Review & Pictures

I headed to Tampa last night(an hour south of me) with my friend Sarah to Tampa's Etsy Craft Party! Although my husband would have gone with me if I had no one else to go with, it was nice to go with a fellow mom and friend while we left our kiddies at home with dad. I haven't gone out on a Friday in a long time, and I got a mommy break!

Because there was so much interest in the Tampa party, it became an Indie Bazaar as well and a lot was planned. There were about twenty vendors selling their handmade items in the outside area. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the outside but the sun had set and it was kind of dark for pictures out there. Maybe someone else who attended took pictures of the outside before it was dark. I should check out the Etsy Craft Party pool on flickr. (looked, so far no Tampa pictures, but check out the flickr group to see picture of various craft party events!) I will upload some of my pictures there too.

Ok, so I don't want to sound too negative about my experience because the event was big, a great turn out, the people who put it together did so much hard work, and it was in an interesting space. The thing that me and my friend weren't too happy about was most of the things were outside. And even in the inside building, it had its garage doors open so there was no a/c anywhere. And this is Tampa, Florida, where even at night at this time of year is humid and gross.

It felt more like an indie craft show than a crafting party. There were several tables set up where you could make something. I would have wanted to make something if there was a/c. We walked around and stayed for about an hour. We felt really sticky and sweaty by then.

The event was scheduled to be from 8 pm until 1 am. We arrived around 8:30pm and there was already a big crowd. It was great to see so many people come out to an event like this. There was a table for people to leave their business cards or other promotional items, so I brought some for my Etsy shops! I also attached a little 10% off coupon to them. :D I think that helped people notice my cards. I put them on the table when we arrived and before leaving I wanted to check it out, to see if anyone took my business cards or postcards. And they did!! Only one of my postcards was left, and several business cards were missing.

I wish I would have researched the party earlier so that I could have been one of the vendors. I think my items would have gone over well. Of the vendors there, only a couple were what I would consider my style. So I didn't end up buying anything, even though I had planned to buy something! That was kind of sad. But it was definitely a fun Friday night, having a mommy break, being in a very different atmosphere than I usually get to be in, and celebrating the crafting world.

UPDATE: There are now more pictures from the event from other people. See them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39463401@N08/sets/72157624184546045/
The back of me is in two pictures there! haha (in the photos ending in 79 and 80, me in dark pink shirt.)

Flashback Friday: 80's Family

This would be probably 1985 but I am not totally sure. The fam! Look at my mom's perm hehe. And my hair(I'm on the right) is either pulled back into a hair clip or is one of those 80's mullets! My little sissy was so little. And my dad had a good 80's hair style going on too!

You can probably tell by this picture that he is a really good father. Even though it was just us two girls and no son for him to play with, he always said he was very happy to just have girls. I take after him in many ways. He plays guitar well. I learned to play when I as 16 and he taught me a lot about it. (But I am not good at all compared to him!! I never got around to learning the complicated chords, oops). He has always been a hard working, affectionate father. He is also a good example in life. He has been a preacher for almost my whole life. He is well liked and respected by so many people. I am very blessed to have a father like him!

Post a flashback to play along! Visit Christopher and Tia:

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If you haven't yet, don't forget to enter the necklace giveaway!

I am heading to the Etsy Craft Party tonight! I will write about how it was! I am excited!

Vintage Inspired Decor

1. Final Kitchen 3, 2. Final Kitchen 4, 3. Untitled, 4. the sfgirlbybay home office.


1. Mannequin


1. Living as an interior stylist, detail bedroom


1. Living as an interior stylist, detail bedroom

Etsy Craft Party - I'm going!!

I don't know why I had kind of ignored the whole Etsy Craft Party things I have been reading. I assumed it was something I probably wouldn't be able to go to, and didn't even look up more info about one in my area. Until Today!! I got the Etsy Finds email discussing the parties again, and this time actually clicked around.

I found out the Tampa Etsy Craft Party looks like it's going to be amazing and big!! So far on the facebook event page for it there are over 200 RSVPs! I thought, can I really go? It's this Friday at 8pm in Tampa, an hour away from me. I decided that I NEED to be there! Not only for the fun, but for promotion. They say they are having a promotion table where you can leave business cards or flyers. And free crafty tutorials will be going on, plus 20 vendors selling, plus food! I wondered if I'd have to just go alone, but when I told my husband about it he sounded interested himself too!

Check if your town or nearby city has
one going on that you can go to!!

I also wanted to say I am still exercising at least 5 days a week! I won't even talk all about how the scale is not working with me. I had that vent on facebook and got many encouraging replies and will keep on going!

Giveaway time!

So I don't think I have done a giveaway since last Fall! That is much too long. I am giving away the above necklace. A gunmetal and antique silver toned necklace with a small heart locket and glass bead. The locket does open! I have this item for sale in my shop. But this one, you get to pick which pale glass bead you want hanging with the heart(or if you don't want the bead, fine too!).
Pick from clear(as shown on necklace), green, purple, blue or a pewter like bead. They are fired glass beads. Very dainty and small.

How to Enter:
There are up to 3 ways you can enter. Leave a separate comment for each, for up to 3 chances.

#1. Leave a comment telling me about your favorite piece of jewelry whether it's something passed down from a relative or something you got for really cheap at a store but love!

#2. Visit CoffeeandCream and tell me what your favorite item is.

#3. Blog or tweet about the giveaway and leave the comment just letting me know you blogged or tweeted about it.

I hope that sounds easy enough, I try not to make giveaways too complicated!

Recap: Leave up to 3 separate comments for 3 chances to win, with the above options.

I will use the random number generator to pick a winner and announce who won on Monday, June 21st.

Open for entries until Midnight Sunday June 20th.

P.S. If you live outside the USA, you can still enter!

Have fun!

Minty Breeze

I made another treasury east yesterday. This one is fresh and minty while cozy/welcoming.
Ok later on in the afternoon, I will be posting a giveaway!!

Fashion Inspiration: Classy Pencil Skirt

1. On the town, 2. december 9., 3. Vintage Secretary, 4. Yves Saint Laurent Leather Pencil Skirt

A revisit to the pencil skirt, an item I have discussed here before! It's just so classic and adaptable. I don't think I currently own any. But I will eventually again! There are so many vintage pencil skirts for sale on Etsy.

Here are some polyvore sets made by talented members there that feauture the pencil skirt:

perdita by hayleykat

Bring my coffee and take a memo by DressWizard

songs title by poncirus trifoliata
(I would have centered the above items, but lately I can't seem to get it to center polyvore sets!)

TOMORROW- A GIVEAWAY WILL START!
Make sure you check back then!

Sunday random thoughts

I want to make a new header for my blog but I don't know what to do. If anyone has any ideas for me or inspiration, let me know! Hmm. I'd like to keep the general feel. Something whimsical, vintage/retro, coffee related, or kitchsy, I am not sure! Maybe I will have to think about it today. Of course I want it to represent me and the blog. I am probably making it more difficult than it needs to be.

On Etsy yesterday I sold three pairs of earrings which is really amazing since I hadn't sold anything in that shop for 2 weeks again. Yay! But what's funny is, the other shop(pillow stuff) that I bought a Storque showcase for, didn't sell anything. I did get decent views on my pillow cover in the first Storque showcase spot, and hearts throughout the shop. I hope at least one turns into a sale! I haven't been motivated to sew for a few weeks now, it's not good. I have fabric sitting around and ideas but no motivation to sit down and make them right now. I had been working more on the jewelry lately.

I plan to exercise today which would make 6 days this week exercised instead of just 5! The only day I skipped was Thursday. I have also been trying to do something unthinkable for me - jog. I don't plan on really becoming a jogger or runner. I have ankle issues and could probably only do a little at a time. So that's what I have been attempting. For instance, Friday night I jogged a total of 11 minutes. That was my 2nd time attempting to actually jog. The first time, I jogged only 6 and a half minutes. But to be honest, I wasn't even sure I could do that much! So by the second attempt, inside in a/c I was able to go 5 minutes before my first walking break. Anyway, that is a big deal to me!

Have a happy Sunday!

Flashback Friday: a cute foot

I took this picture on my cell phone a little less than a year ago. I was laying down with my son, trying to get him to relax and take a nap. He thought it was funny to wriggle around and then stick his foot on my face. He had done it many times before, getting such a kick out of it. So I had the phone with me and snapped a picture. I am laying on a pillow. And what baby/toddler doesn't enjoy being told they have stinky feet? My son loves it. And he likes to pretend like he is smelling our feet to and says "ooh stink". His feet are a lot bigger now! We can't play foot in face much anymore, or else I might have an eye go missing.

This little boy is a very difficult sleeper. Naps? Ha. Those are rare these days. He is 2 years and 4 months old. He resists naps and sleeping unless he is very very tired. He rarely sleeps completely through the night either. When he does, me and my husband find it unique enough to discuss it the next day. "He slept from 8-8, wow!" or whatever time frame it was. :P Thankfully if he does wake up during the night, he doesn't try to play or stay awake long. But, with such a cute face, how could I ever stay upset at him about the sleep issue?

You can join in with a Flashback Friday too! Link up at ChristopherandTia's blog!

Vintage Thursday: Butterflies

I didn't originally intend to do a butterfly theme. But after putting a vintage butterfly bracelet on my favorites list recently, I decided to put it on the blog together. And then I just went with the butterfly theme!(mostly) Random items, in color themed sets. I am not someone who actually owns butterfly stuff, but maybe I should after seeing so many cute things for sale in that theme!

Earrings $7.50; Yellow Butterfly Dress $40; Jewelry Dish $8;

1970's Rose Petal Dress $46; Butterfly Clasp Belt $22 ; Canister Set $32.50

Vintage blouse $24; Leather Butterfly shoes $45; Butterflies Bracelet $2.99(!)

I also made a new Treasury East with the butterfly theme! That has vintage and non-vintage.

"Flutter"

Have a great day!!

Time for some coffee!!

...or tea, if you must! :)

1. coffee, 2. Family Picture, 3. My New Tea Cup In All It's Glory, 4. Coffee & Books, 5. Helsinki 2010 - Coming home, 6. Classic Tea, 7. Untitled, 8. 033 | 365, 9. waiting

I can't believe that I still get such a nice feeling every morning when I go to make my coffee. It's that comforting feeling. And the smell, mmmm!! When I was pregnant, I lost my desire for coffee most of the time. I drank tea a lot. Then I reverted back to coffee being my #1 choice. I still love tea, especially Twining's Decaf English Breakfast Tea at night. But still nothing compares to brewing coffee in the morning!