Oh, the life of a teacher...

This week is state-wide testing for all high school students. What does this mean?

I won't be around to blog much. My students take the English HSA (passing the test is a graduation requirement) on Thursday, therefore my evenings will be spent analyzing last minute assessments and losing a lot of sleep at night.

Boring, I know.

The good news is that Style School started yesterday, I am making all my Save the Dates this weekend, Britt is coming to visit, and I have off work on Monday!

I'll be back with more crafty fun (like a super chic crochet necklace I made in about 30 minutes)!

Inspiration Sunday

Today marks the first day of Style School! Style School is an 8 week, super intense, class hosted by Elsie and Leigh Ann. I am so excited for this class and expand my craftiness outside of crocheting and working with paper.

Moving right along, here are some photos of things that will inspire me this week as I start Style School and wish for spring!

1. Bob Dylan. Cory and I have listened to this beautiful man at least once a day since July. His music is so natural and always balances my mood.

2. Big Brooches. I love this paper poppie brooch. I see myself crocheting something similar for spring!

3. Eating better breakfast. I miss being able to eat fresh fruit and veggies with every meal (I try to buy local crops...so I eat a TON of fresh produce Sping--Summer--Fall). Maybe I'll splurge on some fresh fruit tomorrow at the grocery store!

.....and having time to eat it at a pretty table like this..

4. Photographing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g this year

5. Pretty wall art that I hope to paint this spring...

(all pictures are from weheartit)

I'm going to spend the rest of my evening hanging out with Cory and crocheting pretty earrings in spring colors! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Date Night!

A few days ago Cory was upstairs at his desk grading papers and I was on the couch crocheting. We were both at our respective laptops. It dawned on me that it had been a while since I had set up a date night...

So I sent the following email:

You're invited to Date Night!
When: Friday, immediately after work.
Location: D.C.
What: Sushi & Books

Cory laughed, seeing as how there were only 30 feet between us...but replied in a timely fashion that he would attend. So yesterday, right after work, we headed into the city for a delicious sushi dinner at Chef Thai (weird name considering sushi is Japanese) and then spent some much needed quality time at Kramer Books, our favorite bookstore. We both typically find awesome books from small or indie publishers that rarely make the big-bog book circuit. Afterwards, we swung by a wonderful cupcake shop and picked up two red velvet cupcakes. They were delicious!

Cory being goofy for the camera...

Once we scarfed down our cupcakes, we walked around Dupont Circle for a bit before we headed to the car for home. A few of the rowhouses still had Christmas lights up, which of course, were beautiful. Of course, I needed to snap our first picture of 2010!

Date Night = Success!

Tonight we're hanging out with my co-workers at Karla's house. I need to go work on a few projects that I have to take with me... have a good Saturday night!

The Muse

So, it's been a few days since this happened, but I totally forgot to tell you about some big news!

One of my biggest resolutions in 2010 is to embrace my crafty talents and promote them. I often feel embarrassed when telling people that I spend MULTIPLE hours a day crafting--but I have decided that this year, I will get OVER it. Part of that was accomplished by setting up my Etsy shop and this blog. The second step was talking to Whitney, an awesome lady who owns an AMAZING shop just a few blocks from my house.

The Muse is a shop that is located in downtown Frederick. It sells all things handmade from local artists and also hosts monthly classes for women to unite over wine and cheese (love it!), talk, and learn a new set of skills or craft. You always leave with a really cool product and feel so good about yourself. Anyway--so Whitney has been pestering me to show her more of my crochet goodies--and I finally produced a collection of earrings for her. So... on January 2nd, I officially became an artist at The Muse! It was such a cool feeling. I don't even care if my earrings never sell...the fact that she was even willing to put them in her store is enough for me!

Is there anything that has happened in the first week of this year that has made you feel accomplished or blissful?

What is your FAVORITE thing in your home?

On Black Friday I stayed away from the big-box stores and malls (which was easy since I had an entirely handmade Christmas) and headed to my favorite antique and thift stores. My FAVORITE thirft store in the area was having a major 50% off sale...and I scored an amazing chair for just $10!

Cory walking the chair home (just a 4 block walk...in the rain)

And now, it resides in the corner of our living room with my favorite pillow, favorite granny-square afghan (not pictured), and my favorite kitten!

So, I'm in love with that whole ensemble.

What is your favorite item in your house/living space?

Have a great rest of your Tuesday!

24 before 25

To be perfectly honest--I was a grump earlier. Then I had my chiropractor appointment at 5:40 (right after I blogged my sad, depressing rainbow). I feel like a brand new girl! It had been almost a week since my last appointment, and boy can I tell a difference! So here I am, all sunshine and (happy) rainbows!

Sooo! On to what I really wanted to post about earlier!

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Today marks a month since my last birthday. I had been going over this idea at the time, but Christmas had totally taken over my brain before I could sort through my thoughts. I think, although I do have a few "2010 Goals" on my list, that I am going to attempt a 24 Before 25. I will create a list of 24 things I want to do throughout the year (which is perfect = 2 things a month!) and journal about them as I go. So...here we go.

1. Create a major shop update so I have 25 items (or more!)
2. Enroll in at least 2 classes at The Muse.
3. Visit NYC.
4. Host a dinner party.
5. Read a book over 400 pages long.
6. Take road trip pictures with my new GNOME (Christmas present from Cory's Mom!)
7. Attend a major craft show in a city outside of Maryland/DC.
8. Be a vendor at a craft show.
9. Create clutch purse collection for The Muse.
10. Create a wedding journal.
11. Make a granny square blanket.
12. Have a functional, organized space for my crafting supplies.
13. Make more blog/crafty friends.
14. Get back to my favorite old habit: buy/wear more dresses.
15. Make a 2011 calendar.
16. Give only handmade gifts.
17. Spend more time with my mom, aunts, and family.
18. Attend two concerts (and if one of those was TV on the Radio...ahhhh).
19. Visit Salisbury friends more regularly.
20. Plan a date night with Cory once a month.
21. Go on a day trip 1 time a month.
22. Participate in Happy Mail!
23. Make a journal about my new kitten, Ralphie.
24. Host a craft/tea party.

What's on your list!?

Case of the Mondays...

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I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with something a bit more optimistic!

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Just like many of you, one my greatest style inspirations is Anthropologie. The closest store is about 30 minutes away from here, so during the school year I don't have much time to visit during the week. Due to Winter Break and taking a mini-trip with Cory to visit with some friends in Northern Virginia last week, I was able to spend some QT time in the store without being rushed (hooray!).

Well--another favorite of mine is the Sundance channel. It offers a consant supply of indie films and documentaries that Cory and I LOVE to watch. So, when my two sources of inspiration combined in October, I was overjoyed. I haven't had much time since the season started to really pay it much attention---UNTIL NOW! Ha ha! I  have spent my time DVRing and watching this over winter break. Yum yum yum. It's like instant inspiration, watching the mind work behind the scenes, and not having to spend a dime (well, I guess the cable bill...).

As I posted earlier, tomorrow I head back to the grind. I have had 17 glorious days off and have enjoyed each second of them. They have ranged from a wild blizzard to comfortable evenings cooking and hanging out with friends. So.. you can imagine I'm not totally psyched to be going back to school. However, I'm going to embrace this moment and (force myself to) write out 10 reasons to be glad to go back to work!

10. Get myself in a schedule again.
9. Dressing up for work makes me feel happy.
8. Have a closer watch of what I eat throughout the day.
7. Catch up with my amazing colleagues about their winter break and/or play Taboo during planning.
6. Be thankful that I even have a job in this economic crisis.
5. I get paid Friday (thankfully...whew!)
4. Spend the last 2 weeks of the semester with my students before classes change on the 15th.
3. Have reasons to laugh during the day (my students).
2. January = 2010 = closer to summer!
1. Spend quality "thinking" time in the car to and from work every day (I have a 25 minute commute).
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1. Give my department their wonderful handmade jewlery sets that I didn't have the chance to give before the holidays! Now THAT is something worth waking up for!

In my final few hours of freedom I plan to finish my laundry, drink a cup of tea, and crochet a new set of earrings to wear to work tomorrow :)

Happy Monday morning to you and yours!

Inspiration Sunday

Here are 5 things that inspire me this week. From the colors to the actual pictures.

1. Playing.

All I want to do is play outside today....but it's currently 18 degrees.

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2. Poppies.

I'm going against my usual netural color palate and am LOVING spring colors. I'm really getting into floral colors: peaches, pinks, fuschias...it's only January! Of course, I'm guilty of getting so excited for Christmas, and the day after, wanting nothing but spring. Do you get like that, too? I can't help it. I'm also hesitant to wear chunky layers after Christmas, too.. I'll layer like crazy with cardigans and tights, but will try to avoid dark colors.

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3. Yarn...of course.
Today I will tackle pom poms for winter/valentine's decorations...and i love these colors!

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4. Granny Squares
Right now I have accomplished many clutch purses using granny squares--and I want to aoid winterish items--but where else can you put granny squares?

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5. Thinking of when I can do this again..

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Now, it's time to get started! I have to return to work tomorrow from a very long winter break. I'm going to try to spend the morning and afternoon to myself and then tackle the work I have to do for school tomorrow later this evening.

How do you get motivated to go back to work after time off?

New Items Listed!

So, I've been really getting into designing and crocheting earrings/jewlery over the last few weeks. Here are a few samples!

1. The Button:

2. The Granny Square & the Multi-Colored Granny

3. Hearts

4. Fig Leaf

I can make them in nearly any color combintation--which is fun. My next goal is to come up with a series of bracelets/cuffs to go along. Busy, busy!

Have a great Saturday!

Finally! My own shop!

I sat down yesterday and wrote out my goals for 2010. Some of them are personal pertaining to my health and fitness routines, but most of them are related to crocheting. Here they are: 1)Open my own Etsy shop. 2)Embrace and promote my craft skills. So, seeing as how I started a new blog today, I wanted to continue to push myself and wah-la! We have Donna's Decembers open for business! It still needs some work, but I'm just proud of myself for sitting down and doing it! I hope your goals inspire you to achieve something great this year!

2010

I hope you find promise in today and what will come this year!