Lately

Making:  Stuffed elephants for the little one's of friends.
Cooking:  Ryan is making homemade pizza tonight!
Drinking:  The last of my summer beer.  Sad.
Reading:  Brand new stack of books from the library...just started Wither today.
Wanting:  To go hiking this weekend at a local state park with my sister.
Looking:  Out my office window, wondering if it's going to rain.
Playing:  Harry Potter Lego, Years 5-7 on the XBox.
Wasting:  Water.  Our toilet is running in our guest bath and our water bill was HIGH last month.
Sewing:  Elephants, and alphabet letters for a Christmas present.
Wishing:  Fall would arrive in full.
Enjoying:  Banana chips I bought in bulk today at the health food store.  Yum.
Waiting:  For Tuesday.  Our family dog Mia is having surgery and I'm sad for her.
Liking:  A Facebook post on Stephen King at the Boulder Chautauqua talking about Doctor Sleep. WHYYYYYY aren't I THERE?!
Wondering:  How long I should wait after lunch to eat those banana chips.
Loving:  Ryan and the pups.  Life in general.
Hoping:  That I can make it over to my Grandma's tonight.
Marveling:  That Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are down the street from me today.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, directed by David Fincher, is filming here and it's bizarre.
Needing:  A nap.  Always.
Smelling:  My Lovestruck perfume.
Wearing:  A top I haven't worn in a while, sandals and black skinnies.
Noticing:  How bright my office is right now.
Knowing:  That I am going to be OK
Thinking:  About getting some e-newsletters out this afternoon.
Feeling:  Fulfilled.
Bookmarking:  Best social media campaigns to take notes from.
Opening:  New tabs in Chrome.
Giggling:  Over the Meta Picture.  Love it.

Halloween Hats & Pencil Skirt Over-Wear

When Ninja was discharged from the emergency vet after the awful brush with rat poison, they gave us 60 Vitamin K pills for her to take twice a day until they were gone.  They were horse pills, and Ninja was a champ about taking them.  Yesterday, we finished up the bottle!  I'm thankful every day for her health; she brings me so much joy.

Have you guys checked out my friend Nikki's awesome giveaway yet?  It is not to be missed, and Nikki is a good blog buddy of mine from back in the wedding planning days!

I love my yellow pencil skirt so much, I have to restrict myself to wearing it once a week!  I always save it for days when I really want to feel kick ass about what I'm wearing.  Do you do that, save your power outfits for days when you need them?  I'm wearing it again this Thursday, I have to give a presentation on social media to an area Chamber of Commerce luncheon (gulp).  

On a sad note, our family dog Mia was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week.  Mia is 8, and she's the first dog we ever had; without her I would still think dogs were stinky and dumb.  My parents took her up to St. Louis to a canine ophthalmologist who did an ultrasound and found the mass behind her eye.  Her eye is actually being pushed forward by the tumor so it bulges out a bit.  We had a lot of family discussion (and buckets of tears) and decided to have her eye removed, which will take away current discomfort and give us an idea of what kind of a mass is back there.  Her surgery is scheduled for Oct. 2nd so please send healthy, healing thoughts her way.  

And what's a blog post here without gratuitous pictures of Oscar and Ninja?  I discovered the dog Halloween hat section in Target with my mom and sister last week and we had FUN:

The side eye in this one, you guys:

Ninja honestly thinks I'm punishing her when I put it on, that stinker.  My mom bought Mia a pirate hat...because soon she'll be one-eyed....I love my family and their sense of humor!

StacySewLightly

My Etsy shop is open for business!

I wanted to do something that I enjoyed doing, something that got the creative parts of my brain whirling. Something that supported small, local businesses and something that might make me a little bit of pin money some day.

I collected the prettiest vintage hankies from local antique shops I could find and hand-stitched a dozen or so with words that I thought might resonate with someone for their special occasion.  The up-cycled hankies purchased from local stores (that feed into a big sense of community I have here, as I'm buddies with most of the shop owners) are a bit of a throw back with some modern sensibilities as well.

This Tiffany bow hanky is one of my favorites, the bows are really beautifully hand appliqued onto the handkerchief:

HAD to throw some Jane Eyre into the mix!

Fashionable Wife Nikki has lots of Etsy shop experience with her Delightful Designs Shop, and she was kind enough to share her experience with me as I got set up and tested the waters.  I've been following along with Laura of Luckiest in Love since she was wedding planning, and she has had a very successful experience with her Thoughtfully Designed Shop.  I'm grateful to the help and inspiration of both of those girls!

We'll see how it goes!

Do you have an Etsy shop?  Let me know, I'd love to follow you!

Books and Babies

We spent the weekend in St. Charles, packing in lots of lovely visits with old friends and meals with his family plus a first birthday party with the cutest little birthday girl I've ever seen.  That birthday girl brings me to the books...we found ourselves in Barnes & Noble on Sunday while waiting for a table for brunch with my in-laws and decided to pick up a birthday present for Hannah.  We found the sweetest dog book with lots of fun pull tabs and dogs that look like Hannah's furry brother and sister, so we had to get that.  We also got her a Grouchy Ladybug board book, one of Ryan's childhood favorites.  I had WAY too much fun in the kid's section.  Introducing our future, hypothetical little ones to books is something I am most looking forward to about being a parent, so getting to thumb through all the books was a blast.  (They also had the new Harry Potter boxed set where the spines make up Hogwarts, which was fun to see.)  

I got to love on 3 babies this weekend-my niece, our friend Rebekah's sweetheart of a daughter and the birthday girl herself!

I've actually been collecting kids/young adult books for a few years now, picking up old favorites at thrift shops, book sales and garage sales.  We have a whole shelf going:  

Any Mrs. Piggle Wiggle fans?  I just loved her.  I still go back and re-read some of these when I'm in the mood for them.

We also got the chance to see one of Ryan's cousins' art shows.  I'd seen pictures of her work, and being pretty ignorant in the art department, didn't realize what a different experience it would be seeing everything in person.  The pink weights were part of a hot pink/glittered barbell installation, and the crazed Dexter-look-alike body builder was part of a mixed media piece called "Arnold's Fairy GodDad's".  It was great to see Lauren in her element and see the world through her eyes, and lots of Ryan's family was at the opening too.

What were Oscar and Ninja up to while we were out of town?  They were being sewn customized squeaker toys by their Grandma.  Her house is like Doggy Disneyland.  I love that my dogs love my mom so much, and we do not take for granted how generous my mom is to watch them while we're out of town.

How was your weekend?

DIY Face Scrub

Happy Friday!  Being a short week I was hoping this one would go by faster but it has just crept along...anyone else having that happen?

When we visited friends in Colorado in July, Beth mentioned that she used a mixture of ground up oatmeal and baking soda as an all natural face wash/scrub.  I've been using it about 5x/week for the past month or so and I LOVE it.  

The humidity has been over 80% for months now, and when I work out/bike I sweat around my hairline and it makes it hard to keep my skin clear (especially my forehead).  This oatmeal/baking soda scrub has been just what my skin needs right now.

Make up free this morning/no filter in my super cool logo wear for a Chamber of Commerce coffee hour after a month of use 5x/week:

I keep it stored in an upcycled yogurt container.  I eye balled the amounts; I think I pulverized about a cup of oatmeal in my food processor along with another cup of baking soda.  I put about a tablespoon and a half into my hands every night, wet it down and wash/scrub my face like normal, then rinse a couple of times to get it all off.  I'm still using my normal face wash (Cera ve) 2x/week.

Next time I'll process the oatmeal longer, as there are some sizable clumps in here.  The oatmeal has some moisturizing properties and the baking soda exfoliates.  

It's as cheap as it gets, all natural, easy to make/store/use and I always have the ingredients on hand.  All of which make it a keeper on my bathroom sink!  I'm pretty wary of the homemade beauty products I see on Pinterest as I tend to get all excited to make them just to realize that tracking down the ingredients is going to be a pain.  This one fits my lazy ways very nicely.

How do you combat the summer heat/humidity's effects on your skin?