Etsy Favorites – Branches

My laptop is alive again!!!! I’m so glad my aunt’s boyfriend is a computer genius. Unfortunately, all my stuff was wiped. BUT thank goodness for Facebook and iTunes huh? There was a very small amount of information on my computer that wasn’t already saved somewhere out in the internet. I’ve got some tutorials and sneak peeks of new fluffies coming to the shop soon…so hopefully you’ll check back to see that awesomeness!
I was checking out more handmade goodness on Etsy yesterday and ended up doing a search on branches. Does anyone else love trees as much as I do?? I think they’re beautiful. I REALLY like the ones with hardly any leaves. Not sure how to explain why, I just think they’re so pretty. I also really like the giant full ones too. I guess the ones in between I don’t really pay much attention to. Sooo I thought I’d show off some of my recently favorited items. These shops are AMAZING.

Jewelry Tree by Heart Not Included

Twig Bobby Pins by Woodland Belle

Tree Pillow Covers by Cozy Blue

Branch Wall Hanging by Wooden Sage

I wish I had the extra money to splurge and buy pretty things for my apartment! My walls are still bare and it is just so sad. What amazing Etsy shops do you recommend I feature on my next Etsy Favorites post?

Austin Weekend

My laptop crashed!!!! It has been killing me not being able to update or follow other blogs as easily. I'm currently at work right now calling in prescriptions, so I have time to type and talk at the same time. haha I thought I'd share my AMAZING weekend with you :) I love visiting Austin, TX. My bestie, Mel (who is also my Wifey - we've decided if we are not married by age 40 we're totally marrying eachother and becoming super awesome roommates) lives there and introduced me to her group of friends a couple years ago. I love them all and get so excited when I get to take mini vacations up to Austin to see everyone :) This weekend was my friend Chuck's birthday!

It just so happens that Chuck's birthday is also my furbaby's birthday! He is now 5 years old! I can't believe it :)

We went downtown Friday night. We got free drinks because my wifey knows super fun peeps!

Don't we look like we had so much fun? We TOTALLY did. I hadn't been able to visit since I went to SXSW in March! Seeing everyone was so great :D Where is your favorite mini vacation place?

Etsy Favorites – Jewelry

I’m sitting here singing along with Alex Clare and surfing Etsy. I decided I should share some of my favorite items with you! Are you in love with Etsy like I am?? A couple of years ago, my friend introduced me to the site and I basically never left it. ha. There are so many super awesome things to discover. I’m amazed at the talent I come across. It really inspired me to be crafty :)
I’ve recently gotten really into accessories. I’m completely obsessed with watches and bracelets. Although, I’m proud of myself for having some great self control I’m sort of sad every single time I deny myself such pretty things. Today, I’ll show off a few things on my wish list of jewelry that I WISH I could own. If anyone wants to surprise me with presents I would TOTALLY love you forever :) On to the awesomeness…

super cute bracelet by Simply You Jewelry

wood bracelets by Threads

stackable rings by Mon Cadeau

owl necklace by Rose and Raven

wing ring by Thirty Six Ten

See anything you like? Are you a fabulous jewelry maker that likes to give out free presents? 

Sunday Confessions - Kindness

(via cuehappiness)

My first Sunday Confessions post is about kindness because I think so many people forget how to be kind. I run a doctor’s office. My doctor specializes in headaches and migraines but treats general neurology as well. If you know anyone that has migraines, or if you experience them yourself, you know how awful they can make you feel. Some people can’t even function while suffering a migraine. Well, I see these people all week. When they get made because they have to wait too long, they want their meds, they want an earlier appointment or they just want some letter for work excusing them from missing too many days because they’re in pain…they are not usually kind. This type of rudeness or impatience is SOMETIMES understandable. They are in pain. I get it. I’m in pain too sometimes, but I’m not going to be mean to everyone I encounter.

It gets VERY frustrating when all I do is say hello when a patient walks into my office or I answer the phone and right from the beginning the patient is mean. What the hell did I do to you? Answer the phone too nicely? A lot of the time, it isn’t even the patient that is mean. It is their spouse, parent, sibling or whatever loved one is taking care of things for them. People yell at us for not giving them medication refills when we haven’t seen them in the office in two years. People yell because we can’t schedule their appointment sooner than next week because the doctor is OUT OF THE STATE.  People yell because they had to hold for two minutes and fifteen seconds while we tend to the patient that is standing in front of our desk. People yell just because that is all they know how to do. No one taught them to be kind.

I thought it was common knowledge that when you’re kind, people like you more. People are way more willing to go out of their way for someone that was kind to them. Sometimes I get so angry with patients that I tell them just because they were so rude I’m not going to be in any rush to help them. Man are they willing to apologize and make my day then. I really do appreciate the people that call back after they realize how ridiculous they were and apologize. It really is nice. My favorite patients are the ones that are sweet and kind from the start. They say please and thank you and they understand how much we deal with. They’re wonderful. They are the patients that I go out of my way for. They are the patients that get their charts piled on top of the mean patients in my stack of things to take care of.

I work for one of the best headache specialists in the country. As busy as he is, he only has myself and my coworker running his office. It can get crazy sometimes. When a patient comments on how nice, helpful or organized we are it makes my day! The fact that someone actually appreciates what I’m doing for them is the best thing EVER. Some patients even send thank you cards or little gifts. It really is the sweetest thing. I especially love that my boss – one of the smartest and busiest people I’ve ever known in my entire life – says thank you to me before I leave EVERY SINGLE DAY.

After all of my complaining about the meanness I deal with almost daily, I really hope you get how important kindness is. When someone is kind to you it makes you want to be a little more kind to others. Everyone needs to spread that around a bit more.

What kindness did you experience today?

Technorati Tags: Sunday Confessions

Friday Favorites : Babies

I don’t think I’ve seen this weekly thing out there. I see a lot of Wordless Wednesdays, Sunday Confessions and things like that. Last night I was thinking about blog stuff instead of sleeping. I’m a REALLY bad sleeper sometimes. ha. I came up with something else that I honestly just can’t remember right now, BUT I did think of Friday Favorites. If someone else out there is doing this, totally sorry if I took your idea. Actually, no. I’m not. I’m okay with it. I really like the Sunday Confessions that Kristan Lynn does. She also has some super awesome Wordless Wednesdays because she has a couple of the cutest kids EVER.  Anywayyyy, I’m not super great at planning these things out yet. Since writing and sharing about your favorite things is way easier than just coming up with ideas I really think this should work out well.
My first Friday’s Favorites post will be about my favorite babies :) I don’t have any babies of my own – well, at least not human babies. I have a Yorkie named Brody though. He is my furbaby. He’ll be 5 years old on July 11th!  Because he is my absolute favorite baby EVER, he will get a post all about him next month. I also have a fish named Sheldon. He’ll be 2 years old in December. Let’s say December 4th – Petco doesn’t supply you with the birth information on fish like they do other pets so I’ve decided his birthday is December 4th. Back to my favorite (human) babies…

My best friend Mikey has three awesome little girls. They are my favorite little girls in the entire world. The oldest is Savannah.

The middle baby is Charlee.

The newest baby is Aleeah.

My other bestie has one baby boy-Parker. He’s my favorite little boy in the whole world!

I know when you’re a parent you’re not really supposed to tell people which kid is your favorite. Everyone knows my furbaby Brody is my absolute favorite, but man I love these kids so much! I’ve been through so much with their parents. Being Aunt Vicki is really fun too :)

Are you a parent or an aunt or uncle? If not, who is your favorite person?  I’d love for you to share!

Handmade Gift Exchange

I’m so glad that I found out about this! Linda over at Craftaholics Anonymous has this GREAT idea of getting crafty people together to share in crafty awesomeness. Basically, everyone who is interested signs up and gets randomly paired with other crafters. This is my first time participating and apparently it was slightly different than before. Before only you and your partner would share in crafty goodness. This year, you sent someone a gift and someone completely different sent you a gift. Therefore widening the exchange a bit. I received my gift and LOVED it! My new pal Emily and I have been exchanging emails ever since! She’s way sweet. Look what she made me!!!!

It made my day! I also carried it around this weekend and everyone really liked it! The purse is small, so I only carried the essentials this weekend: keys, iPod, wallet, chapstick and my glasses. It all fit perfectly! The lil owl keychain is now the home of my work keys :) Of course the coin purse only has about 3 coins in it right now, but it works! ha. Thanks a bunch Emily :)
Sooo I’ve had my gift ready to ship for a week BUT my work schedule was just too hectic this week so I couldn’t make it to the post office until Saturday. It is now on the way to Louisiana!

You get to ask secret questions to the person you are crafting for. At first, it was REALLY difficult! I was so afraid I’d make her something she wouldn’t like. THEN I remembered to ask for her Pinterest username! Once I got that it was much easier. I immediately got super excited when I saw she liked owls. I LOVE THEM! I saw an owl iPod case she really liked so I attempted my own version. I’ve only made a couple iPod cases for myself so it took a few tries before I got this one the way I liked. Oh, she also said she likes brown and teals so I went with it. The smaller owl is actually a magnet. I love making useful and cute things. I really hope she likes them!
I can’t wait for the next handmade gift exchange! It’ll be near Christmas time and that seems to be the MOST FUN crafty time. I hope you look into it! Are you crafty? Do you like giving presents? Do you like getting presents? If you said yes to any of those, you’ll love it. Promise.

Celebrate

This weekend was SUPER fun. It was also SUPER SUPER busy! My Saturday started slightly early because the lovely mailman decided to ring the door once and bolt within the 4 seconds it took me to get to the window (I get all my important mail delivered to work because I don’t ever fully trust the mail systems at apartments). I got to the window and no one was there, so I just figured it was a patient that didn’t know how to read our “DON’T RING THE DOORBELL WHILE WE’RE AT LUNCH” sign. Okay, it doesn’t really say that, but that just sums it up! When lunch was over, I saw the tiny postcard they leave that says I didn’t answer when they attempted to make their presence known. LIES! He just didn’t give me time to get there! ANYWAY, I had to go to the post office. I’m not a huge fan of going to the post office, especially one I’ve never been to before. BUT it was my Aunt’s birthday gift SOOO I had to go because I was seeing her Saturday. Turns out that post office is FANTASTIC! They were so quick, the people were incredibly nice, and I was super happy :)

This little package contains a SUPER cute peace ring from HeartCoreDesign. I completely forgot to take a picture of it after I opened it and before I wrapped it up!

After my fun post office experience, I decided to have a fun Target experience…I got a new dress :)

Then I just couldn’t stop there. I HAD to go to Academy. Well, okay, my Dad forced me to go there … we went on a Hobby Lobby trip to find invitations for my little brothers birthday party. I didn’t drive (I REALLY don’t like to drive in my hometown – people are CRAZY drivers there) sooo I was basically trapped. ha. Turns out my dad didn’t find any shoes he liked, but I sure did! Aren’t they so pretty? My absolute favorite colors all together. Oh, and i don’t like those thick socks they have at Academy for you to use to try on shoes when you wear flip flops to the store, so I bought some just to use to try on!

So we finally get to the party for my little cousin. It was his high school graduation celebration + 18th birthday celebration (his birthday was the very next day). I felt SOOO old! It’s awful when you can tell someone “I remember when you were THIS little”. There was wonderful BBQ, sorry no pictures to tease you with. I was incredibly excited when we got these little Blue Bells with our cake though! Vanilla is MY FAVORITE! I scraped off all the super sugary icing on my cake – I only like the kind of icing that tastes like whipped cream. I can’t get enough of vanilla ice cream though.

After all the yummyness, there was SINGING! My family loves to do karaoke. My Aunt’s boyfriend borrows some pretty cool equipment from his friend and we have a blast. These are my little cousins (Justin –bday boy- on the left and Chelsea on the right) singing “Somebody That I Used to Know”. They were pretty awesome.

This is my older cousin’s little girl, Sydney. Isn’t she freakin cute?! She was dancing her little butt off.

After lots of alcohol and lots of singing…Me, Chelsea (basically my lil sis) and my Aunt Kat (basically my mom) peeking behind me. They’re a couple of my favorite people in the world :)

So that was most of my weekend right there. It was absolutely wonderful.

How does your family usually celebrate?