SimpleHappy

Hello everyone! Hope this week has treated you well. This SimpleHappy post is filled with lots of flowers. I love flowers :) I hope to someday live in a better climate with better soil so that gardening will be fun not stressful (South Florida soil is AWFUL! It's really sand lol). 

I love the color of the two purple/mauve flowers. I thought it was so sweet of my hunny - I came home from class and he had bought me a bouquet of pale pink roses (because he knows that I wouldn't have gone for the traditional red ^__^) and then for our little girl (for Valentine's Day) he bought her a wildflower type bunch that had these purple roses. So beautiful! I'm hanging them to make the memory last longer :)

These are from my dad :) (for Valentine's Day)

This is a seed packet design I did for class. There were some last-minute issues where I completely changed my direction (classic Ellie!) but I think for it being a quickie doodle it turned out pretty decent. I'm thinking I might make some kind of printable something for ya'll to download - notecards maybe? Let me know what you'd like to see :)

and....just because there are never enough flowers...hehe

Peonies via pinterest

via Sunday in bed

via pinkwallpaper

via prettystuff

SimpleHappy

I'd like to introduce a little feature on the blog called "SimpleHappy" based upon the concept in life that it's the simple things that matter most. I always find I get ridiculously giddy at the silliest little things. Like when I sit down to watch Grey's Anatomy with my boyfriend and a bowl of Goldfish crackers (am I the only one that steals snacks from their kids? Please tell me you do too so I don't feel guilty! :P) I am so happy it's stupid haha! So, yes, the little things - the simple things :) those are the things that make life worthwhile. This is what's on my list of SimpleHappy for this week:

These flowers :) Munchkin helped pick them from our garden (there isn't much in there haha!) Some Begonias, some weed looking fluffy spherical things, and some velvety grey-green leafed thing (I am QUITE the botanist aren't I?? It's my mom's garden, shh!) They are sitting in a Starbucks Frappe Bottle :) (and currently wilting after a day, but hey, it makes me ridiculously happy to have flowers from OUR garden and to have picked them with her :)

Cheyenne and I picked this rock up on the beach while on a mini-date with Daddy :) She painted it light blue and told me what to write on it. The "hanger" is an old broken Pooka (how do you spell that??) shell necklace. It's going to be his Valentine's Day gift :D

Yes, the television spot got me lol. But they ARE delicious! And I feel much better giving them to my little one (and having a few myself of cooourse) knowing that they have vitamins and fiber and all that. Would it be better to have yogurt as dessert? Yes, but when you are craving Oreos and milk, this is a fantastic substitute! And if you are on WW pts plus, these are only 4 points for 3 - not bad!

This SimpleHappy is brought to you by Pinterest (find me here! I will be adding a link on the sidebar soon :)) With all the house-hunting going on lately, my mind has been racing with thoughts of designing a kitchen, decorating a living room, etc etc. So basically I've been on Pinterest ALOT. Sometimes dreaming just makes ya happy! (to see more of this kitchen, click here)

This little book is WONDERFUL! I am, well, let's just say not so good with keeping up with things. Food journal? Some how I stopped using it. Daily Planner? Got so busy I just decided writing things down was a waste of time (oh dear I need help lol). But this, this little book is fantastic. Every night I go to bed and have a new and interesting question to answer. I haven't missed a day yet and it's been over a month. Milestone for me! LOL sad but true. And the coolest part is that for the next 5 years, I'll get to see how my answers change based on what's going on in my life. I think it'd be really cool to do something similar with children (though some of the questions in this particular book get too heavy for kids IMO). If anyone knows of such a book, please let me know!

Well that's it for this week :) Thanks for stopping by and here's to hoping you have some SimpleHappy moments of your own! 

I'm Back! Where I'm at Now & What's to Come

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I've posted - a little over a year! Life got crazy and a lot has happened since then. I've gotten a job, lost a job, lost a boyfriend (well, we broke up) and gotten him back. All the while trying to go to school and raise my little girl. I've done a lot of growing, and I'm glad to say that though life isn't always peachy, I'm in a good place now. My boyfriend and I are now going on 5 years, and I have to say I am happier than I've ever been - sometimes a break is what you need to grow up a little and find yourself (and I truly mean that for the both of us) - I'm set to graduate school next May and big changes will be coming as I will be moving to Orlando so that the 3 of us can live together (FINALLY!). Thankfully he has a good job with a very promising future (he's set to get the business from the owner as soon as he graduates school!!!). So things are looking up :)

As for me, I am focusing a lot on my daughter, my art (school), and just enjoying my life and all its little joys. I'm also getting back into my Etsy shop (neeeed that income!!) so I'll let you know how things go there :) I'm trying to figure out where this blog is going too...I really want to share some of my silly little DIYs (I really should call them experiments - they're not always successful haha!), projects with my daughter, home inspiration...I don't know. I've got my work cut out for me though :) Anyway, that is what's going on right now. Stick around! <3

Winners of Lovelie's Giveaway

Hello everyone and sorry for the delay. I've contracted a not so lovely cold and completely zonked out last night after work. As I write this, I'm in a complete daze. Anyway, the winners of the contest are (surprise, surprise - only two people entered!):

Theresa of Threads of a Gypsy Blog and
Kirsten of 6th Street Design School

Thank you ladies and I will be sending you your exclusive discount code shortly. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Hello! And btw here's a giveway!

Well hi there! I know I've been sort of absent. And I apologize! I had every intention of blogging at my new job. I'm a computer lab monitor at my school. I work in the music department and basically make sure nobody steals anything and that they all sign in - but my job also came with another part. I'm putting my graphic design skills to work making posters for upcoming musical productions, as well as the programs that go along with them. I really thought I would have time to blog, but it's nuts! [Not to complain here, but] they give me assignments with no deadline so I can't pace myself and it gets a little crazy sometimes. I'm still finding my way. And hey, it's a good job with some perks for a single mom and student like myself. Oh and some good news on the jobfront - the dean of the art department has asked me (yes, me!) to speak at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new art building - eek!!! Very excited that I, and I quote, "came highly recommended," and definitely excited about what this could do for my reputation, job, etc. Good things, good things!

Anyway, I came on here to let everyone know that Lovelie is having a Holiday/Clean Sweep sale. It's been really hard to keep up the stock in my store, as I really haven't had time to go treasure hunting. My listings are about to expire and I would hate to pay more etsy fees (wah!) so I'm offering 20% off with code GIVECHEER annnnd two lucky winners will receive an exclusive sale code for an additional 10% off. That's a total of 30% off! Spread the word and increase your chances of winning - and help me sell out and restock so I can bring you more goodies :) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here are the rules:

1. Visit Lovelie and choose your favorite item(s) from the shop. Come back here and leave a comment along with your email address, mentioning your favorite item.
2. For an additional entry, link to this giveaway on your blog, come back here and post an additional comment with the link and your email address.
3. For an additional entry, tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, come back here and post an additional comment with the link and your email address.
4. For an additional entry, link to this giveaway on Facebook, come back here and post an additional comment with the link and your email address.
5. For even more entries, POST again (Blog, Twitter, Facebook) at any time later in the week, come back here and post an additional comment with the link and your email address.

**You may enter up to FIVE TIMES for FIVE CHANCES to win! Good luck!!!**

The winner will be randomly chosen and posted on the blog on Friday, December 10th...I will notify the winner via email with their exclusive code. Please help spread the word so everyone gets a fair chance :) 

Sneak Peek

Hello everyone! Just wanted to stop by and say hey. I'm still busy busy busy like a bee, but I wanted to throw together a little something so ya'll could see what I've been so busy doing lol. I never realized how much time it took to upkeep a web shop until I really started getting into it. All my life I've had web shops (my family and I used to run a T-shirt and screen printing business) but it was one of those mass produced type of things where you have a certain number of designs you do and thats it. But with vintage things, it's EVER-CHANGING! And I take pride in my shop so I want my pictures to be perfect. So I slave over them haha. I don't know if I'm putting too much into it or what. But I think I'm starting to develop a method of running this ship so I'm not haphazardly doing things. Is anyone else here an Etsy seller? Or someone who runs a web shop? If you have any tips at all, please please please do share haha. I have no problem admitting that I need help! And by all means, leave a link to your store! Other than that, HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Babies & Bears - A Photoshoot

Hey everyone. I can't believe its 2 am and I'm still up. I've been like a little choo choo train building, making, mending, cleaning, photographing..the list goes on. I'm re-stocking my shop and trying to get things in order now that I'm back in town. Anyway, in the midst of ALLL that, I stopped to "smell the roses." I had been photographing and staging things in my room, when my daughter woke up from her nap. She was being awfully cute so I decided to snap a few photos since I was in that mindset anyway. Well, I'm so glad I did, because I got some of the best photos of her I think I've ever gotten. The best part? In the photos I'm about to show you, she is holding my teddy bear, named "Corduroy." I got him when I was about three and took him everywhere and I slept with him all the time. Seriously, I was still clingy to this bear in the 4th grade (I know, at 9 years old it's a little weird huh?). I think I even cuddled with him when I was pregnant, on those stressful nights when I thought my whole world was going to topple on top of me and leave me buried in the rubble. Though I've grown apart from that bear, every now and then I look at him with her, and I think of that little sparkle in his eye I used to see. I guess you could say it just makes me happy; that a little piece of my childhood is seamlessly being woven into hers. My goodness I'm a sap, gettin' all misty and teary eyed over here! Oh well, I'm sure you momma's out there know this feeling too :) So I guess the moral of the story is, cliche as it may be, "Stop and smell the roses" and enjoy your children.