Project 365: Day 031

In a moment of clarity, I noticed the Cherry Blossoms have bloomed! There is probably a law against cutting off random branches from these trees. I would love to have a few to replace my tulips. Maybe I'll find some at the market.

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4:44 AM

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Project 365: Day 030

I picked this up at a local Borders last week. I was drawn to the pattern, the feel of the flocking and the blackness. It's gotten quite a bit of use in just this one week as I figured out I am right at that magical cusp in time where we have to make decisions RIGHT NOW in order to have everything come together in time. Luckily, I seem to be making huge progress, YAYs!! Now, I am constantly trying to remove all the cat hair and fluff that sticks to the flocking, LOL.

Note to self: pick up more lint roller thingys.

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Project 365: Day 029

Looks like Dino is privy to some pretty hot gossip
from this Shag-let! Dino do tell!
I always knew he was tramping about my studio.
[tisk]

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Project 365: Day 028

The tulips have finally given their last touch of beauty. I found the petals all over the dining table today and yet, even in death, they gave me beauty.

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Project 365: Day 027

One of the more scary prospects of moving, for me especially, is having to find a new hairstylist. I have a ton of thick, kind of coarse, hair that poses a daunting task for most hairstylists, evidenced by several horrid haircuts over the years. When I find someone who can handle my hair and give me a great cut I am loyal. I have only had to change stylist in the recent past because they moved far enough away that I couldn't get to them. When we lived in Los Angeles for a year, I just never got my haircut. There were so many choices and frankly, I was scared. My hair ended up a long mess. By the time I reached Seattle, there was no putting it off. I learned years ago that price does not necessarily equal quality when it comes to hair masters. I have had good and bad cuts at every price point including ridiculous prices. However, I pay whatever it costs when I do find that master.

Luckily, upon only my second attempt at finding someone in Seattle, I scored BIG time! I won't go into the details of the first place I went to but they sucked and they butchered my hair. I was desperate for help to fix the abomonation on my head. Enter Dot Hachey owner of Ten Pachi Modern Salon and Store. Dot is a master. Not only did she fix my hair on my first visit but upon my second visit she gave me the best haircut I have ever had. Today was my third visit and she cleaned it up and made it fabulous again, it had grown 3" and wasn't as cute. Even my friend M declared it was the best haircut I ever had and she has seen every style since college.

This alone makes me a loyal client of Dot's but there is more. More you ask? Yes more. At Ten Pachi, you can book your haircut, blow out or other service online. The system lets you pick your stylist and your options and gives you the next available dates so you can choose what works for you. I friggin' love this!!! Also, you don't have to pay for a blow out. If you don't want a blow out for whatever reason, like you are familiar with the style, skip it but at Ten Pachi you don't have to walk out with wet hair just because you don't want to pay for the blow out. They offer a FREE blow out counter with everything you need to dry and style your hair yourself before you leave! The salon has a modern chic interior which makes great use of the small space without feeling crunched. They also offer free wifi so you can surf your laptop while you process. They use and sell MOP modern organic products which they do not push at all but I have fallen in love with this line and it lasts me a long time.

Now what does all this wonderful cost? A haircut with Dot is $30!!!!! A haircut with any of the other stylists is only $20! Blowouts are from $5-$20! (plus the free blow out bar) If this wasn't enough, your haircut takes only 20 minutes! Only a master stylist can accomplish this. Dot knows hair of all types, she knows what flatters your face and she does not sacrifice quality or technique for quickness. This is the first time in my life that I can get a haircut and have the rest of my day for what I want to do. I usually had to spend an hour or two in the chair just for the haircut in the past because the stylists were not used to cutting someone with so much hair.

I am a super happy girl. I spend so much less on my cuts that I can have a groovy style that I can actually afford and not feel guilty to maintain. Oooooo, and look how cute my skull clip looks in my hair! YAYs!!!!!

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Project 365: Day 026

Y and I are thinking we really want a cupcake tree wedding cake. We both heart cupcakes and we actually discovered our sweet tooth for them together.

Problem: we are new to Seattle and we have yet to determine the best cupcakes in the area.

Solution: visit every cupcake shop and devour cupcakes! Things we have to endure just to get married [wicked grin].

This is the Royal Red Velvet cupcake from New York Cupcakes in Bellevue. It was good. I prefer my Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting but this one came with their original buttercream. Now I must admit that it was THE BEST buttercream frosting I have ever had anywhere. I did also have the chocolate cake version of their Coney Island Coconut which was very yummy. The cake was moist and not too sweet. They have such an array of interesting and yummy sounding flavors. The shop is also very cute all done up in cheery pinks. Overall, this place is winning but there are more cupcakes out there that must be consumed before final judgment can be made.

Nom, nom, nom.....

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Project 365: Day 025

Y just ran up here (my studio/office is in the attic) to have me snap some photos of his hand in this position. It's for one of his many projects. I love it. Especially the scratches left by Zira near his wrist, lol.

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Project 365: Day 024

Picked these up today. I already feel the teensy-est of palliation just by having these babies in hand. Having only recently moved to Seattle, putting together even the tiniest of weddings in just a few months, is proving a daunting task.

<3

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Project 365: Day 023

These cute little owls were favors from one of my best friend's wedding. They flew in all the way from Peru. Detailed in sterling silver and completely handmade they are beloved treasures that now reside in our horror section. Perfect location for Y and Z owls, hee.

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Project 365: Day 022

I just had to share. The tulips have opened up and these Parrot tulips are just absolutely gorgeous! I have figured out that these are Apricot Parrot tulips and they are now my favorite tulips of all.

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Project 365: Day 021

Today was a very special day. I had Auntie Z duty with my 5 year old niece. I filled in and shuttled her about on her very event filled Saturday. It started with ballet, then soccer and then a birthday party. Ballet was a closed class this week so I will have to wait until her recital in May. We had a 1/2 hour before soccer and we played foosball. I was so amazed as she totally picked up on all the basics I showed her. Then an older little boy came and played with her that actually knew how to play and would whip the ball around hard. My little niece totally blocked about 3 shots and made one goal!!! Hells-to-the-yes!!! She also totally rocked in her soccer class. They played minnows and sharks, where the sharks try to get the soccer balls away from the minnows into the goal as the minnows attempt to get from one end of the field to the opposite side. She was one of three minnows out of 12 kids who were able to keep their ball the entire time. Not only did she have skills kicking the ball but she employed strategy by always going by way of the outside of the large group of sharks made up of the coach and the kids who had lost their ball. She is amazing!!!!

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Project 365: Day 020

Skully watches and protects over my domain. Hung high above my main desk (out of Zira's reach), he brings good fortune and inspires cheekiness. He also used to make it smell like dusty, powdery flowers but alas, his stench is long gone.

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Project 365: Day 019

YAY! It's tulip season! Tulips are one of my two favorite flowers, the other being Stargazer lilies (my most favorite). The close up is of the two varieties of tulips I picked up today. I always love soft pink tulips but today I also fell in love with these gorgeous Parrot tulips!

If you click on the links above, you will be taken to the Florapedia site for each flowers meaning. I was very happy with the meanings of my two selections. They also have Floral Astrology and it turns out that Stargazer lilies are a favorite for Scorpios, well, I am a Scorpio! [insert Twilight Zone music]

hee

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Project 365: Day 018

I am helping a friend out with his new apartment. I did one of his places years ago and he is back for more, heh heh heh. So I was looking through my favorite paint deck, ICI Paints. The reps for ICI were always the best and they always had the best colors and samples. I used them for my old apartment in San Francisco and for most of my clients. The paint has great coverage and the staff at their paint outlets were always very helpful. Color is a beautiful thing and paint is such an inexpensive way to change your surroundings into something special. I had rented for so many years and I will never forget the moment that changed my rental happiness forever. It was the moment one of my professors at UCB asked all us fresh faced designer wannabes if our walls were the color we desired or if we were "waiting" until we owned. Most of us rented and declared with a sigh that we were "waiting". He immediately scoffed and annouced, "That is what the deposit is for!"

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Hectic

Things will be hectic in my world through the end of the month. Loads of stuff I seriously need to accomplish. I will try to keep up with my Project 365 and sprinkle in a regular post when possible. I will also stop by all your wonderful blogs, as I always do, but it will probably be sporadic. Please bear with me and stay tuned :P

xo-z

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Wednesday Cravings

I have been threatening taking up the bass. If I ever got around to it, this would HAVE to be my case! From the Chanel Spring 2009 Ready-to-wear Collection.

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Project 365: Day 017

When I went to pick up Y after work today, I saw a magnificent rainbow. Being St. Patrick's Day, I wondered about me lucky charms, tee hee. Then Y got in the car and handed me an olive green limited edition Domo-kun!!!! YAYs!!!!! I call him Domo O'Kun :P

Here is Domo-kun's music video:



Watch Domo Music Video - Check out Domonation.com in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Project 365: Day 016

Fitz's Grape Pop, pure cane sugar and so yum-a-lish! Purple heaven! I was so glad when I found out Amazon Fresh would deliver a case to me, um I mean us, any time I wanted. Here is my current empty bottle on the window sill above my kitchen sink. Devil Duckies, yer way too late, Muhahahaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

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Project 365: Day 015

I found her!!! This is Yazmine, on foot at least, I have another figure that came with this one where she is ridding some sort of reptile but I need to glue that all together. I will eventually paint her tiny little body, we'll just add that to the long list of projects I've got at the moment, eh-hem.

She seems to have a penchant for Madonna-esque torpedo bras and has definitely heard that shoulder pads are back.

Diva knows how to work! Strike a pose!

LOL

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Yazmine (The First)

Saturday was the big day. My first game of D&D ever. The main accomplishment of the event was Yazmine, my kick ass character.

Here are her stats:

Name: Yazmine
Class: Magic-User
Race: Elf
Worships: Jwas Medar (god-o-magic)

Strength: 16
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 15
Charisma: 14
(I am told these are very decent scores.)

As an Elf I can switch from being a magic-user to a fighter as long as I decide this before each of our sessions. I am told I have really good stats for a fighter. As a fighter I can get to 4th level but as a magic-user I can reach 8th level. As I get experience it gets divided between my two classes.

+1 "to hit"
+1 to damage
+1 to hit when using sword or bow
+1 hit point per level
and Loyalty Base of +1

Weight Allowance: +300
Open Doors: 1-4
Chance to Know Spells: 85%
Minimum Spells per Level: 7
Maximum Spells per Level: All
Resurrection Survival: 90%
Spell Survival: 95%
Maximum Number of Hirelings: 5
and +10% to earned experience (Woohoo!)

She speaks: Elvish, the common tongue of mankind, and 7 more that will be figured out later.

Level: 1 (Medium)
Hit points: 5

For saving throws:
Death Ray or Poison: 13
Wands: 14
Stone: 13
Dragon's Breath: 16
Staves and Spells: 15

Yazmine managed to acquire all but one, Sleep, of her first level spells:
Detect Magic
Hold Portal
Read Magic
Read Languages
Protection from Evil
Light
Charm Person
Shield
Ventriloquism
and her fave Magic Missile, which she chose to memorize at this time. (You only get one spell per day and until Yazmine rests or can be protected for of few hours to memorize another spell from her spell book, that is it for the day at level one. Pretty dang sucky state of affairs. She has to really think before using her dang missile.)

She started out with 150 gold pieces and went immediately to the store to buy equipment.
Here is the list with the cost of gold next to each item:
dagger=3
staff=6
light horse=40
saddle=25
saddle bags=10
pouch=1
two small sacks=2
blanket and a bedroll=1
water skin=1
flint and steel=1
backpack=5
one week of iron rations (food)=15
grooming supplies=1
small silver mirror=15 (it takes work to be a good looking elf)
she had to settle for sturdy clothing=10
but after much protest and a request to see the manager at the store, she manged to get her hawt kick-ass stiletto boots=10 (which can be used as a weapon BTW, hee)
This has left Yazmine with a mere 4 gold pieces for now.

Her encumberence=434
and movement rate=12 inches

We are in The World of Yezmyr and the "crew" consists of Yazmine, an elven magic-user, Guaif, a human thief, Trebor Yenoom, a human fighter, Rudolphino, a human paladin and Candela Shadowslayer, a human cleric.

I have been told Yazmine is a pretty rockin' chick with some strong stats. Now she just has to stay alive. I do have to come up with Yazmine II and Yazmine III before our next session because death lurks everywhere. We tragically found this out. As soon as our pack of adventurers left the pub in search of the scary Gnolls, we had barely set off down the road to rest for the night, when we were attacked by two giant ants that ended up too strong for our mere level one status and ended the life of our thief, Guaif.

Creating the characters had taken so long, especially for me, even with help. Basically for myself, until we got to the point in our adventure where I could use my Magic Missile against the giant ants, I was all out of my comfort zone and wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. I had just gotten the plot, so to speak, when the ants attacked, scoffed at my Magic Missile and killed Guaif, so I asked for a do over, LOL, because frankly, we just started and those ants were way too dang hard and I was not about to have to endure another awkward pub meeting thingy. Luckily, the DM obliged at this point. It will be the only time. So, Guaif ended up only injured (with 1 hit point!) and we grabbed him and our horses and fled from the giant ants.

Our "crew" managed to kill four jackals out of six in another attack and then we came upon some caves. Yazmine was not thrilled about these caves, she had a bad feeling. Guaif, our thief, who acts as our scout cuz he is all stealthy and sneaky, went ahead to check out the caves. At one point he was so far in we had to go in behind him so we could still hear him if there was trouble. He couldn't hear a thing and so far had not seen anything along one route in the cave. Along another route one wall had two tunnels leading off to the side. Since Yazmine, as an Elf, has infravision, she went to peek inside the tunnels. First tunnel she picked up two 3 foot wide blobs of heat signatures and in the second tunnel further back two more even bigger and she heard loads of creepy rustling. She advised all to GTFO! Guaif and Trebor, our fighter, wanted to explore further on the initial route that Guaif had gone down, convinced there might be treasure. Yazmine refused to peek and told them they could go check it out with the torch if they just had to see what was there. They did, only to hear more rustling and shapes moving. So we finally GTFO! Yazmine seems to think there are some evil giant spiders lurking in there and wants nothing to do with them at level one.

Unfortunately, as we ended the nights session, the "crew" finds themselves, after Trebor broke down a door at this ruin they were checking out, being attacked by big ugly ass Gnolls who are coming out of said door. Luckily Yazmine isn't right by the door and has a Magic Missile at the ready, but I wonder if when we get together in two weeks it wouldn't be better for her to be a fighter, although fighting from a distance and running sounds like the best plan right now. :P

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Project 365: Day 014

Godzilla was this evenings stand in for Yazmine, my D&D character. It was my first game of D&D and I guess Yazmine had cold feet, prolly due to being stuck with a n00b like me. I could not find her anywhere so Godzilla took over. He really does not do any justice for Yazmine's outwardly appearance but he does give you a sense of her inner nature when pushed. :P

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THE RANDOM $5.00 OFF SALE!!!

I am randomly selecting items and taking $5.00 off the regular price. I will leave up the sale price for a random amount of time and will randomly switch around items that are on sale as well.

Not sure how long it will last.
Not sure which items will be on sale.
Pick it up when you see it because I can't guarantee it will be on sale for long. :P

All decisions made with the help of my Magic 8 Ball, LOL!!

SHOP NOW!

Happy Friday the 13th!!!!

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Project 365: Day 013

Currently, this is my favorite destination. It's the bin at my local post office where I drop off packages. A trip to this means some lovely person found my creations yummy enough to place an order. It puts an amazing smile on my face and makes my heart bubble over with glee. I am fortunate to have wonderful customers and clients. To date, my jewelry designs can be spotted on style mavens all around the United States as well as some very exotic and chic places including Japan, Spain, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Canada! I put much love into each piece and I take great pride in not only the design but it's presentation and delivery. I would love to have to see this box everyday of the week!

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Project 365: Day 012

Dear Mr. Mole or Vole:

It was one thing when you and yer clan tore up the sides and back areas around the house last season but now this is down right nervy. Did you have to raise this big-ass hill right smack in the front yard where we walk everyday?? Unsightly and a pain in the booty. Just wait until the gardeners come around next Monday and find this. I'm just saying.

Sincerely,
Annoyed

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American Idol Sucks!

LOL

I haven't watched for years but Angela of Pickles on Pizza did a post one night and I started to watch, she is definitely to blame for this :P I've seen it twice so far, including this past Tuesday night. Can I just say....Who in the heck is that other chick anyways????? They all annoy me in one way or another.

I'm just waiting for So You Think You Can Dance!

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And so, the countdown begins!

It's just a matter of days now until my first game of D&D ever! I know my character is going to be an Elven Magic-User. I think I shall call her Yazmine. She's definitely going to have a rockin' outfit with some major hawt stiletto boots. I don't care what anyone says but Yazmine at some point will be using magical pink glitter as a weapon. TPK is definitely lurking as the DM, my wonderful fiancé Y, is going to make us roll up three characters before we even start. I think mine will all be identical triplets with the same name, LOL.

I am pretty sure I will enjoy myself, even though, as I type this, I still don't get it. There are some really fun peeps joining the 'crew', shout out to my ABD&DC (America's Best D&D Crew) homies and bizaaaatch (I really enjoyed this season's ABDC, can you tell?). Our party will consist of three dudes and two chicas! The other girl is a major player with years of experience, can I get a Woot! Woot! Ladies in the hizz-ouse! <---I hope eveyone knows what they are getting into by letting me play along, heh heh heh.

The man and I get along in every other aspect of our life. This is the last unexplored territory. Good thing we are already engaged, because if I hate it, wow that would be a sad state of affairs. Luckily, as long as I don't have to read all those rule books and my 'crew' is ready for some Z spin to the D&D it should be way coolio. I like to laugh and I can be competitive, so watch out, I am ready to kick some demon arse!!! <---the stilettos should help :P

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Procet 365: Day 011

Comfort food that is actually healthy = Pho. Years ago my comfort food consisted of mainly oooey-gooey cheesy dishes like mac 'n cheese or pupusas de quseo con loroco. Those still have a major place in my heart, or tummy, but I always feel guilty and like a tub-o-lard when I eat them for comfort. Enter Pho Tai, rice noodle soup with eye-round steak. If I had a hard day, feel sickly, down or just plain out of sorts, Pho Tai makes it all better. Chicken soup never quite did it for me and all the cheezy stuff weighed me down the whole day. This soup fills me up, makes me feel all better and satisfies cravings without weighing me down. In San Francisco Aux Delices delivered amazing Pho Tai to my door, talk about being spoiled. Living in Seattle now, Saigon City, located in Bellevue, WA, has THE BEST Pho Tai. We will go out of our way to dine there. However, when in need of a to-go Pho fix near the homestead in Seattle, the local Than Brothers does the trick. If you have never experiend the Pho, do yourself a favor and try it, you will be glad you did.

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Wednesday Cravings

How fun are these Bebaroque 'Roxy' stockings!!!!

The show stopping Roxy design is carefully hand embroidered using fabulous black fringing. When on the leg the fringe will swish and sway, whilst elegantly hanging down the back of your legs. Exclusively designed for Lascivious using a shorter 2.5cm tassel and a nude stocking, Roxy is the perfect compliment to any Lascivious collection. [from the Lascivious website]

Available at the Bebaroque website are the original Roxy Heart versions in:

Pastel Peach
and

Chestnut Bronze


Wheeeeee!

These just make me want to go-go dance!

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Project 365: Day 010

Pattern by Tricia Guild is one of my all time favorite eye candy/inspirational books. I love the look, the feel, the smell. It makes me happy to gaze upon the beautiful pages and inspires me every time in new ways. Bold patterns and colors are expertly mixed in each interior and page giving my eyes a reason to see. The velvety flocked cover and the semi opaque printed vellum pages, which appear randomly throughout, give me a reason to touch. It is at times my looking glass through which I fall and discover an ethereal world full of bold choices and strong statements. Pure joy!

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Project 365: Day 009

Typical aftermath of a day of designing. Incredibly, the photo makes it look much less chaotic than it actually is in real life. Loaded on the desk are too many items pulled from drawers, components that still aren't labeled and partly completed thoughts. Ugh.

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Recent Designs

This weekend while my wonderful friend M visited, whom I have known and loved for over 20 years, I was able to design her a necklace. She wanted a little red something and I came up with this delicate yet vibrant necklace (just like M):
Today I also worked on a couple more designs:
Not sure if I am done with the last two but soon all three should be available in my shop.

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Project 365: Day 008

This is Zira, ruler of our universe.
She is a fluffy ball of absolute love.

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Project 365: Day 007

LOL, we took M&X to Archie McPhee's. Our purchases tend to be skull heavy but M&X purchases were mainly on the bacon side. Must be a result of being pork deprived as they currently live in Egypt. :P

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Project 365: Day 006

Ooooooooooooo!!! Our friends, M&X, are visiting us in Seattle and M made me this!!! My own knitted Dalek, which will now be known as Dalek Khan, hee. Wow, I love all the scarves, gloves and arm warmers she has made me over the years, all my fave and some with skulls even, but this is waaaaaaaaaaaaay special! Thank you!!!! :)

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Wreck This Journal: Number 3

This week...

Z-WTJ:

I tried really hard to not go for pretty.

Y-WTJ:

and...

Hee Hee

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Have a Little Seat - Treasury

My earrings, Marie Antoinette Sat Here, are featured in an Etsy Treasury selected by Silverandice! Be sure to visit the Treasury before it expires and check out the other featured artists as well as the wonderful Silverandice as she obviously has amazing taste! :)

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Project 365: Day 005

This is my Desk Doggie.
He holds my important note for the day with his tail.

What's really funny is that until I took the first photo,
I had not noticed his, um, assets!!

hee

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Project 365: Day 004

Tonight we went to the Hank III & Assjack show and it was friggin' awesomeness! You get three photos today because I could not decide and well, it is Hank III. These were all taken with my mobile phone. Yes, that is Hank Williams III.

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Project 365: Day 003

I adore these flowers.
I have no idea what I am going to do with them, yet.
Such is the life of an artistic hoarder.

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Project 365: Day 002

Whew! I'm just making it before midnight :P

It's the end of an era.

I have owned and used my Betsy Clark stapler exclusively at my home desk since I was a little girl. Today I purchased this One Touch 20 sheet capacity stapler from Staples [sigh]. Good old Betsy still works but she can't handle too many pages at once. I've had to grow up just a wee bit more [gulp]. She will still have an honored place at my desk but she deserves a rest after so many years of excellent service. Better to retire her with some bite left to her than risk a broken Betsy and heart.

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I'm over it...

...Ocular Glitter Mondays, that is.
It's not as fun to do as I hoped and I don't think you all will mind.
So it's over. For those of you, [cough] no one [cough], awaiting with baited breath for OGM, hopefully I'll entertain you with some other forms of eye candy.

It's been a crazy busy day.
At the moment, Y is on the turntables and I need to still cross a few things off of today's list.

A big thank you to all who have voted thus far in my poll and left me such awesome comments!
I really do appreciate it and [blush] you all are so kind. I feel really super goofy taking those pictures. Please keep voting and/or tell me what you think.

:P

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Pretty Please....

...vote in my poll.
Over there on the right side --->
I really would like to know.
I can take it.
Dish it out.

You could also just comment here.

Thank you!!!!
:)

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Project 365: Day 001

Once again I am playing along with Smilemonsters, what can I say, she's fun to play with! Today is the first day of Project 365, where we are taking a photo every day for one year.

Today we went to The Container Store to pick up a few things for the house. I was so excited to score this compartmentalized container for my sassy D&D dice. This month we begin hosting a bi-monthly game night. Y is the DM (Dungeon Master) and I am a total n00b. I've read "Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress (Girl's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons)" in preparation. Having never played, I still don't get it but when I found these pink sparkly dice I was all, Dude, I'm in!

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