Bootylicious

Good gravy, heavens to Betsy, and criminy Pete, I got the incredible motherlode of snail mail love and a fantastic weekend this weekend. Color this gnome happy and warm, despite the grey snow showers blanketing the greater part of the country!

Check it:

 

A really lovely hand made card from Dawn of My Life with Garlic, complete with some fun lowfat recipes for hollandaise sauce. So textural and springy!!

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Ani of The World of Ani continued the extended birthday celebration for me with this sweet card!

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Jes of Sweetpeas also kept the extended birthday celebration in full gear with handknit hat (Casey and I had to fight for the hat; see her paws in the first hat pic? I came out victorious though!), windchimes (which I love ~ how’d you know?!), choco bon-bons, photo album, and cutie notepad! Man alive! Do I feel spoiled!

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Kim of Something to Say sent these gorgeous handmade cards, art-stamped (from her own carving, so swanky!) gift bags, yummy soap and candle (so spicy), flower seeds (are they peonies? they look so lovely!), and the cutest little monkey in a bag ever. Isn’t she so sweet and creative? I am so spoiled!

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Jenn from Just Jenn sent me a most fantastical box of ‘shower’ goodies…I will shed more light on details later in the week, but I am digging the Hawaiian CD mix, the macadamia nuts, the footed glass eggcup (with actual feet!), the cookies, the sweets, oh my oh my!

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Hillaray of Wee Wonderfuls sent this most cheery little bud of a pincushion to breathe a little spring into kicking out the winter glums (she also is a Chicagoan and knows full well of the drears we’ve been getting from the skies). Isn’t that the cutest little thing? I love the spiraly button and the pink and green combo (such a classic mix). So cheery sweet!!

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I ordered this cute-as-pie grocery tote from Tania‘s shop last week and it (along with some insanely cute postcards and a Simmy magnet) too arrived with my motherlode of mail glory this weekend! I will be the most stylish little shopper at the Publix down there in Columbia!

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Outside the tremendous snail mail love (thank you all!!), I had a fantastic family love weekend too! Lizzie, Monkey, and I, along with the cuddling Casey & Brutus (see pics below, awwww) headed back home to visit my folks. I love visiting my folks. Especially on the fly without too much planning ahead. I will most definitely miss this easy-visit aspect once Monkey and I are fully settled into Columbia. But, since our house is in quite the state of disarray, I am thinking that it will be several months before we’re fully settled in Columbia (which means more ‘transition’ time here in Chicago, hooray!)…

Aren’t they so cute?! I love them to bits.

Monkey surprised me on Saturday morning with a lovely bouquet and a delicious homecooked breakfast (nothing lures a gnome out of slumbers like the smell of warm, salty bacon!).

I’m going to try to be good about blogging now that I’m no longer farming the cube, but it’s been hard, since the Walrus is something like a full-time job when I can give it the time (which I did, all day today!). I’m really trying to make my rounds to visit you all and send emails as needed (I am way in deficit again…I think you all know the gnome way of email these days…a reply will be coming henceforth soon….)

In the meantime, check out these other fun places elsewhere:

• Craftsquad Forum
  
• Lizzie’s co-worker’s movie ~ Click on the “Finalists” button > biography category > the movie entitled “16 Hours.”
  
• Check out one of the cutest movies around at Huffmania. Awwwww!
  
• Bad Signs (also via Lizzie)
  

illustration friday

This week’s theme was ‘sorrow.’ I thought for a good part of this week about how to approach it. I couldn’t quite decide, so I made something of a triptych. I think my favorite is the weeping willow image. I’ve always thought those trees look so sad (and when I was little, my granny told me those trees always harbor the sad souls who are trapped on earth).

  

randoms

It seems there is so much going on these past few days that it’s hard for my brain to function in a structured manner. It’s working in bits and bobs and dribs and drabs, so I present to you more randoms…

This fun collage was created using the Collage Machine, 1.0. This is a magnificent time sucker, and I came to find it via the ever-fabulous Kim at Something to Say.

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This is my work badge. It’s got my much younger 26-year-old face on it. I like that even though I had to get a new badge twice in the last 3+ years (once because my last name changed to Monkey’s, and once because somehow it became inactivated), they let me keep using my much younger face on it. I’ll be turning it in tomorrow for good, so I thought I should scan it to remind myself that I had spent a chunk of my pre-30’s days here.

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Although I’d been long looking for a valid reason to give up a perfectly ok position in corp. giant, I find that I am surprisingly kind of sad about the prospect of it now that is real and here. There are so many really great people that I’ve come to know over the past few years here. It was weird clearing out my cube (oh my lord, did the scads of papers and folders accumulate!) and having people swing by to send me well-wishes. I am most certainly excited about the next chapter to open for Monkey and me, but I do feel a bit wistful knowing that I likely won’t see a lot of these people again. My old team took me for lunch at Benihana yesterday (it was a nice treat, and I really like so many of my old teammates) and I’m going to lunch with my current team tomorrow. I’m going to leave a well-fed gnome, a little extra pudgy round the middle. {I’ve got pics to post but have been lazy…perhaps soon when I catch a moment}

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Speaking of moves across country and such, I found this fun little thingy via Cheeky Prof today:

bold the states you’ve been to, underline the states you’ve lived in and italicize the state you’re in now… Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C / Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

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I went to my dentist today (squeezing in all the benefits I pay for before I leave this week) and I will miss her too. She is super, and the 2 hygienists have become quite like friends as well. They have such a fun office, always putting on great music to keep the atmosphere light and cheery. Plus, the chocolate-mint buffing paste, which sounds foul but really is rather good. I love the way my teeth feel after a good cleaning!

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Following Penelope’s advice, I am finally reading The Secret Life of Bees (could I be the last woman on earth reading this book? yes, I am sometimes slow to trends!). It seems to come at the right time, as it takes place in South Carolina. Mind, early 1960’s SC, but SC nonetheless. One line has really stuck with me so far: “South Carolina was Dixie first, America second.” Interesting…

slippery, slushy slope

Oh me oh my. More grey, dismal weather. More rain-soaked snow. More feeling like not doing much and ohmigosh, why won’t the blaaaahs of winter go away for good? Just when a speck of sunshine pops through, the skies go all vengeful and bring on the drears of heavy and grey and cold and wet. Ick.

Lizzie and I went shopping yesterday afternoon and tried to take the retail therapy approach to pull us out of the glums. I’m not sure if it really worked, because we both spent a mite (lot) more than we probably originally intended. And neither of us actually toted home all that much…

A few of our plunder-fruits to share:

• Origins has new Pinch Your Cheeks colors. Lizzie and I swear by the original, but Lizzie also got the Coralberry version. She looks so healthy and sunkissed glowy, even in the depths of grey and drip. Anyone who is suffering from winter sallow might find Coralberry a great lift. It makes your cheeks smile.


• Monkey (who is in drizzly SC this week) asked this week for a nice shower scrub with good exfoliating capabilities. I may still try my hand at making one (any tips or recipes to share, anyone?), but yesterday I picked up a tube of GloomAway after first manhandling the CocoaTherapy scrub (which smells like an earthy, spicy, minty cocoa (nice!!) and not too sickly sweet). I used GloomAway this morning and I will say it smells like bottled sunshine. Very glorious. For a few minutes, it really did lift away the blahs. It’s a nice amount of scrubby, but I don’t know if Monkey will find its scrubbiness attribute high enough. I should think he will enjoy the sunshine smell aspect, though.


• I picked up the Peony body cream and splash from BBW to go along with the Peony shower cream Leslie had sent for my birthday, because I love the smell so much. It smells like spring to me. Come on, spring! You can make it!

I have been on a shopping frenzy and trying to get it out of my system, since this week is my last week of regular, gainful employment. Sadly, I can’t recall all the various purchases I’ve made over the last couple of weeks (if I remember anything shareworthy, I will be sure to do so). Lizzie is coming over tonight and we have a visit to the regular Target in plan. This will likely prove to be dangerous, since I have a big Target addiction. Eeee. I do need to update the resume (such a task; I really really trudge to it), so maybe I won’t have to put shopping out of my system for good…I am looking forward to more time with Monkey in warmer climes soon.

 

illustration friday

This week’s theme: Flight. I am loving the idea of spring, even if it’s 14° where I am just now…

Happy Weekend!

irony? 

Yesterday, the corp giant cafeteria had those special chicken fingers I like so much, and I was thrilled to find that the chef on duty was not a sneezing, coldy man. In fact, he was a robust, very healthy looking fellow. The chicken was delicious, and I was quite pleased that I didn’t need to worry about catching any new illnesses. Though, the last dodgy chicken adventure actually did not cause me to contract any colds (was my hypothesis about cooking germs off proven?). Last night I found myself in the most violent of sneezing fits and runny nose and burning eyes. Today, still stuffly and sneezy. That teaches me to be smug again.

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Despite his warnings for not being able to deliver for Valentine’s Day, my Monkey is one sweet and clever man. I will need to post his card later; it really made me laugh heartily.

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bits & bobs

Various other goodies that have caught my eye of late. Hoping they’re useful to some of you somehow:

• Giant Dwarf (via Kraf-o-La). I am so in love with the flower cloche hat.


• Elizabeth McGrath (via Awful Cufflinks). Dazzling site and fun fun goods!


• Girlfactor has come back from hibernation with a lovely new design!


• Lileks.com (via First Born Studio). Great links to great imagery finds.


• My friend Natalie today asked me about my collaborative cookbook project. I had put this project on the proverbial back burner last spring once things started to pick up for The Walrus and hadn’t given nary a thought in recent months to this project till she mentioned it today. (Adult ADD in full force?) I wonder if perhaps this would be worth resurrecting? I have got a handful of submitted recipes already but would love more if any of you out there would like to participate. I was thinking that I’d post the finished book to Cafepress and then you who wanted it could order at cost (i.e., I’d price it so no profit would be turned to me–just to cover the production cost). What do you think? Project site here…

Ok, that’s about all I can muster today. Trying to conserve some energy for breathing through the nostrils if at all possible….Happy hump day!

Happy Hearts Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, all. I have been plotting a fun snail mail valentine to send to many of you (if I have your snail mail addy…if I don’t and you’d like a valentine, please drop me a note at giao.williams {at}gmail {dot} com. For real. It will be late, but it will be (I hope) fabulous. Fun, at least.

I received some fun valentines over the last few days from Hope and Lori-Lyn! I am in big email and snail mail deficit (see above paragraph) because of lots of time issues lately, but I’m on the move! They’re forthcoming from the Gnome. Anyhooo, here are the pretty bits of snail mail love I received over the weekend:

cool Love postcard from Hope and Love tea, a fun bookmark, and a fab collaged Valentine card from Lori-Lyn

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So, today is Valentine’s Day and I’m decked out in a cheery pink sweater Lizzie had gifted me for my birthday and I’m wearing the Love pin from Kathleen’s shop and I feel pretty warm and fuzzy. But, can you believe? I actually forgot to put my wedding/engagement rings back on after my shower this morning (yes, I take them off and pop them into a trinket box in the bathroom so they don’t get all goopy with shampoo and soap and the like)! I am feeling pretty naked without them. I know they are just symbols, but you know how you really get used to the feeling of wearing something, and then you forget to wear it once and you feel so off the rest of the day? Yep, that is me right now. Naked finger.

No matter. I know that I am very, very happy that I won’t be spending this Valentine’s sans singe. Monkey and I are planning for a nice, quiet night in. I am so glad he is home this week. He’s been extremely stressed with work (last week was rough and this week looks to be pretty rough too, though again, I am so glad he is home). He is feeling really awful about having had no time to go all out and make fancy gifts for me today because of the rough week/weekend with so much time spent for work (it’s been very rough week or 2) and at my parents’ for the weekend.

But see, I don’t want anything. I am so very happy that he is here. That is the best gift I could ever ask for. I think you regular readers already know how he spoils me to bits always, but it’s not at all what I need…I truly feel blessed just to be married to this wonderful man, and I am thanking my lucky stars that he is here home with me tonight.

See, last Friday afternoon, Monkey was flying back from Columbia (3 connections, can you believe that booking?). On his second to last leg back, his plane had to make an emergency landing. It was a spanking new plane, and apparently, the computer system of plane controls and the backup system went completely on the fritz. All controls went down! They had 20 minutes to find a suitable “emergency landing” spot, and all the passengers were prepped for crash landing, “brace” position and all. HOW FLIPPING SCARY IS THAT?! Monkey stayed calm (he is so nonchalant; I love that) as he went in for the brace position, but as soon as he relayed the story to me, my stomach went all aflutter, because oh-my-flippin-goodness, that is just not supposed to happen. Not to my Monkey. Not on a routine business flight. Thankfully, they didn’t crash land in the end, and they did get clearance to land where they were supposed to (the originally intended airport destination), but YIPES! I am so, so thankful it ended uneventfully. Truly.

At any rate, I didn’t buy anything too fancy for him (I shopped before I knew of the big crazy scary moment~but really, is there any gift that says “I’m so glad you didn’t crash!”?). I got him a few Gene Meyers shirts (they have the snazziest patterns and buttons, and he loves them since I got a couple for his birthday) and DKNY ties (for work) {Marshall Fields is a fab spot for men’s work shirts & ties!} and a few weekend shirts from The Buckle. Fun-ish, but mostly practical. I’m crafting up a card and perhaps a mix (one of our annual traditions, but time’s been not on my side lately), and I hope to whip up a pretty meal tonight (I’ll keep you posted; it’s very likely we might end up getting carryout from Francesca’s!). I hope they somehow say “love” to him. As much as work clothes can, anyway…(I also just put in my 2 weeks’ notice with my boss, who has been very supportive…this move is officially underway! I hope that this too feels like a gift of sorts to Monkey….less extended time apart from one another!)

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Other places you should spread a little love today:

• Yvonne’s new shop of the most adorable goodies that side of the Atlantic!
  
• Carrieoke’s sister is running a marathon (that is 26 miles, people!) for the American Stroke Association. She’s taking pledges. Go show her your support! This topic is near and dear to my heart, because my paternal grandfather suffered 2 strokes before he fell ill to a myriad of other problems when I was 13. My high school boyfriend’s grandmother (I adored her) also suffered a stroke, which ultimately took her from this earth. Monkey has borderline high-blood pressure, and his dad suffered a couple mini-strokes as a result of head injury sustained during some rousing rugby matches, so this is definitely something that means a lot to us.
  
• Kathleen’s gift of her fab mix last week introduced me to Jem, with whom I am now smitten. I learned that she is a Welsh singer. Monkey is proud.
  
• For all you Hello Kitty lovers out there, did you know about the Pez set you can have all for yourselves? (just enter “Hello Kitty” in the search for all the goodness you can reap).

Happy Hearts Day, all! Take care of you. Big Gnome hugs!

illustration friday

This week’s theme was “The Year of The Rooster.” Happy New Year!

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It’s been one excellent snail mail week!

Good gravy, it has been a most excellent week of snail mail and surprises! Leslie continued Kathleen’s trend of stretching out my birthday surprise celebration and sent me one motherlode of fabulous goodies. See here:

Fun fun vintage apron pattern, rose salve, peony shower gel, and a fab handknit scarf with heart applique and 2 pairs of fun monkey socks! Thanks so much, Leslie! You are a fabulous gifter! You are sneaky in the greatest way possible. Big hugs!

I also received a gorgeous pin I’d ordered from the Liquid Sky Arts shop last night. I rewarded myself with something from her shop once I closed out my Walrus books for 2004:

 

Such pretty presentation in the loveliest papers! And my pic is not so good of the pin, but the sold pin’s already been taken down from the LSA shop page…It’s a LOVE pin and I fully intend on wearing it all weekend long.

Hope you have a great weekend, all! Happy Friday!!

Quirks, volume two

Because I have pretty much no real news to report on, I thought it might be time for another installment of quirks.! Today’s bout of quirks was brought on from a conversation the lunch ladies and I were having after lunch today. The hallway we were walking down smelled of that clean plasticky/locker first day of school scent, which I love (kind of like a brand new plastic pencil box stocked with fresh pencils and paste and such…), which then led to the topic of paste. Now, I was never a paste-eater, but I have been definitely guilty of having a taste.

Today’s quirks ~ things that shouldn’t have been put near my mouth but which I have tasted anyway:

• Elmer’s paste. The kind with the bright orange lid and the white spreader handle/stick. I was in first grade in Mrs. Bitsko’s class (where we went for Reading and assorted afternoon craft times). What? It smells minty. And it tastes kind of like it smells, which isn’t bad.


• Play-Doh. Salty, kind of strange plasticky taste. It looked pretty being formed into a “cake.” I was probably 4 or 5.


• Modeling clay. The kind that doesn’t harden even when you leave it out. Very plasticky. Prolly did this around the same time as the Play Doh tasting.


• Silly Putty. Not much to taste, fun texture to chew on. Same time as the other squishy play dough sampling, most likely.


• Hi-Bounce rubber balls. Lizzie may remember this: most of our high-bounce balls, which were usually some unusually brightly colored production, all had little divots and crevices in them because I liked to bite on them. I don’t think I swallowed the bits, just liked to bite them off.


• Liz’s apple dolls. I remember she made these crafty dolls with heads made of shriveled apples. I wasn’t actually hungry, just felt like chewing on them, because they were apples, you know? I was probably 8 or so.


• Purifying Pumpkin Face Mask from Bath & Body Works. It smells just like a pumpkin pie. I did this bit of tasting (very, very NOT tasty) over the last year or so.

I imagine this quirk of mine is going to stick with me for a lifetime through. Because of the curiosity. And stupidity. But fun to share! Come on, you know you want to share!

Oh! And I’m looking for…

I’ve been on the search for the following. Any help?

• Have you seen the recent JC Penney ads on the telly for Valentine’s Day? There’s this really gorgeous cover version of “Nena’s 99 Red Balloons.” I have no idea who does this version or where I might procure a copy, but if you know, I’d be ever grateful!


• I’ve been scouting about for charms and miniature figurines of Alice & co…I have found one place with Alice charms, but the price of each $17 each) is a mite higher than I was hoping for. Have you got any leads for good resources? I’m hoping to keep it around the $5 per piece range, give or take a few bucks.


• I’m also looking for mini garden gnomes. I found some charms at eBay and bought them today, but little plastic or resin garden gnomes (like 2″ tall or less) would be super, if any of you have seen them!

Thanks in advance! For sharing and all….

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hope you kick it off in style, bright colors, and happy thoughts. My folks still celebrate Tet with each new year, cleaning the slate, sweeping out the old and welcoming the new. When we were kids, it was a real treat to stay up well past our bedtimes to partake of the rituals, offering up fruit and incense, speaking our wishes and hopes for the coming year, getting a bit of $$ in red envelopes, attending Tet festivities with Vietnamese food galore and the unicorn dance and ao dais (watching the unicorn dance is so exhilarating, with the drumming and the leaping teaser man, so much fun!).

I haven’t got a lot going on to report on just now, save a few more randoms. When the blue funks lift, the mind races. Adult ADD and all…

• Make your own convo hearts. {via Cheeky Prof}
  
•  is a
  
• PostSecret. Cool project with some fun and some disturbing elements to it. {via Sweetpea Kate}
  
• I’m crafting for fun since I got all my pending orders out. I love doing things for just fun. It makes my toes happy.
  
• Speaking of happy toes, you may have noticed my latest fixation on a pair of orange wellies. I have come to love them. They are a real pair that I came to own by happenstance. Lizzie had asked for galoshes for Christmas, and I picked this pair up after much searching of many shops. The following day while doing more Christmas shopping, I found a pair much more suited to her (Esprit black with white polka dots, so cute!) but couldn’t bring myself to return the orange galoshes. I gave both pairs to Liz for Christmas, and she wound up giving me the orange pair. They’ve been superb for the snow and the slush and the mud of the last few weeks. They make me smile when I look at them. They’re orange & green! What’s not to love? I wear them a lot. Even when it’s not that muddy in our backyard.
  
• I just had to order me some Bubble FX after seeing Charla’s most excellent baby boggin. The stuff is discontinued, though, so I had to do a bit of ferreting around. I wound up finding mine at eBay.
  
• I got another cool snail mail goodie yesterday from my pal Melissa, who is fast becoming quite the maven of papercrafting. {Melissa, super secret subtle hint: you should start your craftblog already!} Look at this gorgeous card (it’s pieced paper work, fab!):
  
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• Thanks all, for all the great chick flick recommendations!
  
  
  
  • still trolling for 13 Going on 30
    
  • LOVE LOVE LOVE Sliding Doors and Emma, Clueless, Chocolat (oh, yum!) and all the old school (lurved Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful!). I am also all over Chicago chick flicks (While You Were Sleeping, Return to Me, High Fidelity)…I might fire up a few DVDs (Amelie, Big Fish, HF) tonight. Though, Lost is on. And I am addicted.
    
  • Caught a really funny flick last night: But I’m a Cheerleader. A bit obvious in its satire, but the colors are just dazzling….

Working on a secret project that I hope to get into the post before week’s end….Happy Year of the Rooster!