Friday, February 29, 2008

Sugar is EVERYWHERE!!!

Day 5 with no sugar and boy am I hating it. I have to say I’ve been pretty darn good so far. Last night I was offered a marshmallow by an unsuspecting person and I said no. About as bad as I have been is my fat free whipped cream that I eat on my whole wheat waffles. It’s better than the honey and peanut butter that I usually indulge in as toppings. Well, I knew the whipped cream had sugar but not sure how much…in the first 5 ingredients there is sugar, corn syrup AND high fructose corn syrup. Good gracious you have got to be kidding me. So I was just tempted to go in the fridge at work to just spoon some up when my co-worker was telling me her nephew just ate three Dunkin’ Donuts. I stopped myself and decided to get a spoonful of peanut butter instead…made with roasted peanuts and SUGAR! ARGH! I’m just glad that I am not cramming a candy bar down my throat right now although Diet Coke with Splenda is my best friend right now.

Even the other day when I went to Curves, they gave me a goodie bag with coupons and snacks and half the snacks were sugar filled. Chocolate Granola Bar, Honey Crunch Cereal, Chocolate Drizzled Rice Cakes...I think I did good I only ate half of a sample pack of Cinnamon and Brown Sugar covered Almonds. Brown Sugar is better for you right? I still remember my mom catching me in my room with little snack baggies of brown sugar...I'm like a crack addict here. :) Now none of these snacks from Curves are REALLY bad for you but I'm trying to do this thing all the way. ::DEEP breaths:: My dear husband had to calm me down last night because not one pound have I lost since undertaking this, reminding me that weight is not the most important thing.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Swimmy and Friends Beat the Big Bad Fish



Etsy had this awesome story posted about Swimmy the fish on their anniversary. More recently they asked fellow Etsians to send in companions for Swimmy. The above fish is my contribution. Below you will find the awesome clip of the story of Swimmy. It's part of the reason that I try to buy supplies and such that I need from Etsy. Whereas I am not totally against the big fish of Wal-Mart and Target, I want to support people who have the dream of supporting themselves like me doing what they love.


You can find the whole article at Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsyNews/article/etsys-first-five-years/1119/

Monday, February 25, 2008

Star Wars at Its Best

Okay, I normally wouldn't put this kind of thing in my blog but seeings how I am a die hard Star Wars fan and she is just TOO cute, I had too. If you haven't seen this, ENJOY.

Just Say NO


Today marks the beginning of my two weeks sugar-free. Since I have a serious addiction to sugar and I know it contributes to many negative factors in my health, I am trying to kick the dependency. I am still going to be eating whole wheat carbs and fruit but NO candy or dessert of ANY sort. Today I have already eaten a whole can of pineapple chunks (packed in its’ own juice) am currently drinking a Diet Coke with Splenda and can’t wait to get home to grapes I have there. This is not going to be easy but a lady I spoke with once told me if you can get through two weeks you pretty much have the habit beat. I talked to Spencer beforehand to warn him that I may not be pleasant to deal with at times in the next few weeks and he said that he understood and would help me. Hopefully this will be the boost I need. It's definitely going to be a struggle...I'm already jonesin' for some candy big time.

Here’s an example of the attitude I had as a kid from my favorite comic strip: "For Better or Worse".

Ye Old Spaghetti Factory

Ever have those memories of places that were just the best when you were little and then you get older and your memory is tarnished by some new experience? It used to be that the crème de la crème of dining out in my eyes was the “Old Spaghetti Factory” on Ponce de Leon in Atlanta. Mom, Dad, Sara, and I had gone there on several special occasions in my youth and it was a grand place…in my memory. I even had a souvenir glass that my custom made Italian soda came in one time that I kept for the longest time collecting dust on my dresser.

The point of this rambling being that I went there a few Saturdays ago with my husband’s family on his mother’s side and either my memories are glossed over by naivety or it has gone downhill. We had a party of around 30 people (my mother in law has 7 sisters and 1 brother and they weren’t even all there) and they only gave us only one server. Poor guy struggled for the first hour and a half by himself in which we had not even gotten a chance to order yet. Food came out quick, but it was all cold. We got free desserts but they were still frozen. :::sigh::: Sara and I felt so sorry for our poor server. It was a nice time though. We got to see some friends that we hadn’t seen in a while and Liam got to hang out with his cousins that he doesn’t get to see that often. I am so glad that I have known and been a part of Spencer’s family for longer than we have been together because it allowed me the unique opportunity of coming to love them (and get used to them) for themselves not just because they are my husband’s family
Ms. Riley Elizabeth and Liam cheesing for the camera.

Daniel, Allysa Jo, Riley, and Liam

The kids proudly showing off their $1 bills that they were planning on spending on fresh Krispy Kreme donuts (YES, it cost a whole dollar for one donut)

We are large and in charge and this isn't even all of Spencer's mom's side of the family.

I SOLD ANOTHER PHOTO ON ETSY!!

Yes, I did. There is an incredibly sweet seller on Etsy http://www.nutraj.etsy.com that has awesome jewelry that was kind enough to send me a stone that I strongly admired that bought my Gladiola Art Print.



I still LOVE making jewelry but it seems that my photographs are more popular. Photography has always been my first love but I just haven’t photographed for fun in so long. I personally do not think I am the best still life/landscape photographer but I can’t go posting pictures of weddings I have photographed. I do have some early work that I would love to post but those are all on negatives and lost in the void of the disastrous catch all garage at my parent’s house. Makes me sad to think of all that hard work being lost forever but I cannot seem to find any of my notebooks full of negatives.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Recent Developments

Well a lot has been happening in my little world recently and I have not had a home computer to keep up with all of it. Well, I have had one but it works at the pace of a snail. Sadly computers are not always as easy to deal with when they get old as cars are. I guess maybe we are more willing to put money into repairs for something that costs us thousands of dollars rather than something that only cost hundreds. Spencer and I finally came to the decision to buy a laptop. We are not getting rid of our desktop though. Hopefully he can find the CD that has his operating system on it so that he can reinstall it per his cousin’s suggestion. My lover-ly sister worked on it and there seems to be nothing wrong with it. I’m excited about our new pc and can’t wait until we have a wireless router so that I can work on my Etsy stuff in bed. I’m sure that will make my husband happy. :) It's been a bit of a hassle getting it though. We went to the BestBuy store nearest our home in Lithonia on Friday and their computer said they had one in stock but the saleslady could not find it so she called the Gwinnett store to have them overnight one of the 7 they had in stock to the Lithonia store. FIVE days later, it's finally there. YAY!!

Gateway - T5450 Laptop - Yes it is actually Garnet Red
Model: M-6750 SKU: 8651069
Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor T5450; 3GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; Labelflash technology; 15.4" widescreen; 250GB hard drive; built-in Web cam; Windows Vista Home Premium


Friday, February 15, 2008

The Circus is in Town

The Ringling Brothers (and Barnum and Bailey) circus was in Macon last week and my dad was so lovely to buy tickets for us all (Dad, Mom, Sara, Spencer, Liam and I) and we all went one Friday evening. To be honest, I wasn’t totally excited because the last time I went to the circus, I was in 6th grade and it was very disappointing. Zoos and Circuses, you see one you see them all in my opinion.

The circus was a debacle. It was a daycare day for Liam (translation = no nap) and he was getting sick on top of that. This meant a hypersensitive high strung child who just wanted to see the animals and there weren’t very many of those. 2 elephants – 1 zebra (who only made a brief appearance) – 5 weiner dogs – and Tigers (not sure how many). Most of the performance were acrobats of different sorts which couldn’t hold his attention. Not to mention the absolutely insane price of things at the circus. They make stuff at the Braves games look cheap. We splurged and got him this spinning lighted toy thing for $18 because how often do you really take your child to the circus? I just wanted cotton candy. NOT for $10 a bag though. I can handle my disappointment better though. Liam wanted some too and did not understand why the man would not come to his seat to give him any. I had to try to explain to him that he wasn’t GIVING it away.




Liam with his $18 toy that Sara later traded in for one he wanted more.



GIVE IT UP FOR THE CIRCUS PERFORMERS!!



Wednesday, February 13, 2008

AT LONG LAST

I am finally posting pictures of the newest addition to our extended family. Ms. Lilah Claire Jackson. If you travel back to the beginning of my blog you will see little miss Lilah still in her mommy’s tummy. She is already almost 3 months old and these photos were taken when she was only 4 days old. Liam loves her to death and is so gentle with her. Thank goodness he doesn’t want a brother or sister for himself though. He’s very selfish when it comes to his mommy and daddy…I can’t imagine sharing any of my precious time between more than one child. I find it hard enough to give Liam the time he needs………well I got quite off topic there. Lilah is the daughter of one of my very best friends who is the reason I know my husband (seeing how they are cousins) and I look forward to spoiling her rotten. Please keep in mind that these photos are completely unedited.

Lilah not even ONE DAY OLD at the hospital still





Four Days Old - Liam's first time visiting "baby Lilah"




When He Used to Like Trains

It used to be my little boy was pretty diverse in his choice of toys. He LOVED trains (and not just Thomas and Friends) he also had a love for ocean animals. He even liked jungle animals and cars. NOW his great love in life are DINOSAURS. Dinosaur toys trump all others. He’ll tell you that himself too. The way he categorizes them is 1. Dinosaurs 2. Cars 3. Trains. So much for my little oceanographer.



Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Emotions. . .LOTS of Emotions

I am feeling very fired up yet overwhelmed with a dash of discouraged thrown in. I have been poring over articles on Etsy about marketing (pimping) my shop and I have so many ideas but only limited resources at this time. I am trying to write all my ideas down for future reference. I think what I am most excited about is that I can possible write Storque articles!!!! Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to write. One of my favorite parts of working for the corporate giant GEICO is that I was part of the newsletter team for the Emergency Road Service department. I know that sounds ridiculously boring but it gave me a chance to write articles…AND take photographs. Can you get much better? At least not from my standpoint. I am overwhelmed by all of the amazing opportunities I have to get my shop out there and yet not knowing where to start. Discouraged comes in the form that I have had only two sales so far (one being my gorgeous sister) and I am IMPATIENT! I should take a page from Liam's book. He told me the other day when I told him to be patient "Patience is a virtue and if you don't have it then it's not."

One of the things I have been reading about regarding streamlining your shop is that you should not have too much DIFFERENT stuff on your one shop. I do not think I will be able to follow that. The reason I named my shop Artistry in Focus is because I have never been able to completely concentrate on just one artistic endeavor. I love to dip my hands into everything. I may eventually look into having one shop for jewelry and the other for all other things crafty…but then what about my photography. I don’t think I could manage 3 shops. I still have a job and a home to manage!!! We’ll see how it all goes. I make sure to keep my shop categories specific so anyone can find what they need.

I regularly read a blog from a talented girl bohemiangirldesigns.blogspot.com that I discovered on Etsy and she had the lyrics for this song on her blog today and they are awesome. I always feel that I need to be strong even though I have a big strong man always at my side waiting to be there for me.

Big Strong Girl by Deb Talen

It's not now or never.
It's not black, and it's not white.
Anything worth anything takes
more than a few days
and a long, long night.

Don't push so hard against the world
You can't do it all alone,
and if you could would you really want to?
Even though you're a big strong girl
come on, come on, lay it down.
The best made plans
come on, come on... are your open hands.

Rest your head.
You've got two pillows to choose from
in a queen-sized bed.
Hold out for the moon
but don't expect connection any time soon.

Feel the light caress your fingertips.
You have just begun,
the word has only left your lips.
Maybe in time, you will find your arms
are wrapped around the sun
you're wrapped around the sun.

Don't push so hard against the world, no, no.
You can't do it all alone,
and if you could would you really want to?
Even though you're a big strong girl
come on, come on, lay it down.
The best made plans
come on, come on, lay it down
are your open hands.