Published!

Yippie! The magazine is officially OUT! And in my opinion it came out beautifully! So if you're in the Johnstown area, pick it up! I seriously feel like I'm famous! What a fabulous Thanksgiving surprise!

Mmmmm PIE!

I'm sooo looking forward to tomorrow. Mike and I have been married for 6 1/2 years now, and have been together for 8 and in all of that time this is the very first Thanksgiving that he hasn't had to work. And tomorrow, for once, we are going to spend a nice quiet morning at home with the kids curled up on the couch watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, followed by an early dinner at my mother in laws house and a late dinner at my parents house.

And in order to prepare for the wonderful day that I'm sure tomorrow is going to be and also for all of that yummy food first thing is first... PIE!! Apple to be exact! So here's how I spent the morning today, up to my elbows in apples, dough, and children nipping at my heels for a slice of that warm, gooey, wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Be safe, eat till you can't eat anymore, and pass out!

PS: I am thankful for having wonderful blog/etsy/awesome in general friends like YOU!

One Busy Bee in A Party Hat

The past few days seem like a whirlwind, and with Turkey day right around the corner time doesn't seem to be slowing down any. That's ok though, I like it when I have a lot of things to do, keeps life from getting too tedious.

The Johnstown Magazine is officially out and about. I'd love to show it to you all, but the truth is I haven't even seen it myself, which worries me because I really hope that it came out fabulous. Only subscribers have gotten the December issue and it wont officially be on the newsstands until the end of the week. But I've had quite a few phone call and email orders already, which is pretty fantastic! I can meet local people and don't have to worry about packaging, the post office, or the amounting etsy fees. And with two spoiled little boys and Christmas coming up, the extra cash will certainly serve its purpose. (Because between you, me and the rest of the Internet, if that moolah was sitting in paypal right now chances are I'd spend it on etsy)

In the midst of all of this I have somehow found the time to make a few new pieces for the etsy shop, so look for the awesomely awesome journals and necklace in the picture at the top of this post coming to an OhMandie near you!

Oh, and but of course, how could I blog today without sharing that it is Braydens birthday. My little baby is officially 6, or at least he will be at 8:10pm. *Sigh* Where did the time go? Chuck E Cheeses tonight after school. Gotta love stuffing our faces with pizza followed by an evening of Ski Ball! I had to bribe him with that in order to have his actual party this Sunday, the weekend between his birthday and Gages birthday, who turns 2 on Dec. 8th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDEN!

Tea For Two - A Tale of a Girl and the Quest for the Perfect Cup

Its cold here today. Like really cold. There is about 2 1/2 inches on snow on the ground with more to come all week long and the little widget thingy on my computer says that its currently 21 degrees out there, although I can attest that when I was standing out at the bottom of my driveway with Brayden a little over an hour ago waiting for the bus, it felt colder than 21 degrees.

So of course in order to wake up and more importantly warm up I turn to my old standby every single morning. A wonderful cup of Hot Tea - Black Chai Tea today in fact. I do coffee too on occasion, but something about tea is more intimate, from the whistle of the kettle to the steeping of the tea bag - its a process to get the perfect cup of tea.

I collect vintage tea cups, not for value or even use, but because I think they are so lovely and intricate... that and I feel like I'm British or something with a fancy tea cup and saucer. But truth be told, I don't use my tea cup collection, nor would I dare to. I could never disturb the little display I have set up, and the royal-esque feeling I get from those sweet little tea cups.

So where does that leave me in the mornings? Drinking my perfectly made tea out of a not so perfect tea mug. A bright pink tea mug.... with Tinkerbell on it. My tea and my mornings deserve better! I go to all of that trouble to make the perfect cup of hot tea each and every morning only to drink it out of the most horrendous of mugs. So today I am on the hunt for the perfect tea cup! Help me choose bloggers!

Tea Cup #1 - Aqua Cup and Saucer Set by Michelle Swafford Pottery - $36.00
Tea Cup #2 - Love is Like Tea Haiku Tea Cup by Felicitea - $10.00
Tea Cup #3 - Persephone's Vine in Blue Green by Circa Ceramics - $35.00

Beautiful ♥

It's funny how sometimes all it takes to enlighten your spirit is the smallest thing.

I've been in a sort of personal rut lately. I think all moms go through that at one time or another, feeling as if their entire identity is defined by their children. I love my boys, I love watching Yo Gabba Gabba every afternoon at 11:30 (no really I do, its a cute show!), I love spending the evenings coloring in coloring books and pushing little toy trains around. But that's not entirely who I am.

I'm a girl darn it! I live in a house full of boys and sometimes you just want to break out the dresses and make up and play dress up!

When I walked out in the rain to the end of my drive way to get the mail at 11am today I was still wearing my pajamas, my hair was a horridly curly poof of frizz, and my only real plans for the day included emptying the dishwasher and if time permits finishing up the 2 journals I started yesterday. But when I opened that white box and saw a small blue package my whole outlook on the day changed.

I broke out my best friend in the world, my Chi straightening iron and fixed my hair - which needed it so desperately that if I hadn't of done it when I did it would only have been a matter of time before birds started to nest in there. I got dressed and even put on makeup, knowing full well that the only people who I'll really come face to face with are my children and husband, all whom love me no matter what my appearance is for the day.

Inside of that small blue package was a perfect purple box. And inside of that perfect purple box were the two lovely hair clips that I had custom made courtesy of Sew Lovely. Now these are not your ordinary hair clips and they certainly had to be treated as such. They didn't deserve my tousled hair or my shabby appearance. So I glammed up just so that I could try them on, and in return they changed my outlook on the day and helped me to feel something that I was lacking - beautiful. ♥

I'm a Momma!!

My formerly preggo cat, Percy, had four sweet little kittens last night - I'm a momma!! We have 3 all white ones, just like thier mom and one grey tiger striped/white one that is just too cute for words.

Since Percy is named after a certain little cheeky Engine from Thomas the Tank Engine, courtesy of Brayden, I'm sure these kittys names will follow suit, once we found out if they are boy kitties or girl kitties.

Gage keeps walking up to the box saying "Hi Kitty" and Brayden just likes to run his finger down their backs and fawn over how cute they are.

So... does anyone in the PA area want a kitty?

A Much Needed Facelift

I've been one busy bee the past few days - making oodles of new journals and putting together little bits and baubles for some new jewelry. My shop needed a facelift - it was getting stale and I needed some new things, and so off I went on my craft-a-holic rampage and spent the past few days cranking out all kinds of new goodies!

The Johnstown Magazine that Oh Mandie will be in should be coming out in about 2 weeks - so for all of you local friends that follow my blog, be on the lookout! I'm excited and am really hoping for a Christmas bump in sales - but then again, arent we all.

Oh well, Brayden is off of school until Thurday, and my mommy duties are calling - and so are those oatmeal cookies the boys are I about to bake! - Its 25 degrees out, I'm cranking on the oven and making some warm, winter treats!

Much love to you all!

Green Apple

Got my first treasury in awhile - so that means you really should go and visit it and give in a little love by clicking here.
♥

Front Page Love

Is this not the best Etsy Front page ever!?!

Lookie What the UPS Man Brought Me!

Yesterday was a fabulous day. Obvious reasons aside (YES WE CAN!) lookie at what the UPS man brought me!

Brand spanking new business cards! Up until now I've only ever had craptastic vista print cards - and even those were the "premium" ones. I only say that they were craptastic now, because at the time they were perfectly fine, because I finally have something to compare them to. I am now newly obsessed with Overnight Prints, were I got these, wonderfully thick, glossy (which was free!) with rounded corners (that I paid and extra $2 for) business cards for less than $10, which includes the shipping, after an online coupon code.

Not sure quite why, maybe because of how fancy these babies are, but I feel like my little business is legitimized now.

A Time For Change

Its Election Day! So all of you wonderful people out there in blogger-land get off your butts and get out there and vote if you haven't done so already!

Its time for change in America and a fresh perspective on how to run our country!

Heres a picture my house - and my show of support!
Why are you still reading this?? GO VOTE!

Ho Ho Ho!

I've been one busy bee the past few days, working on all kinds of Christmas dodads for in my etsy shop. Tis the online shopping season after all! They won't all be appearing for a little bit because a few of the Christmas journals are being featured in Johnstown Magazine, and I'd like to sync the listing of them with the release of the magazine. But of course I thought I'd give all of you out there in blogger-land a sneak peek, and a chance to get one now before they go on sale - just convo me - Oh and look for smaller flip-top notepad stocking stuffers to come soon too! Enjoy!


Heres hoping that Santa brings everyone handmade goodies this year!