Toothbrush By Preserve

Maybe this is a weird thing to write about, but I adore my new toothbrush! We were in need of replacements, so I just peeked into the health and beauty aisle while we were at Whole Foods picking up some veggies last week. There was a sale on the Preserve brand, so I tossed 2 into our basket. Even before the sale they were no more expensive than many of your standard choices. 

They're made of recycled plastic and you can return it to the company to re-recycle! Very cool. Plus, the bristles are really soft! I've really enjoyed brushing my teeth lately. 

On a different note, I turned the photos of my sister's dance performance into a short (14 second) video. Click here to see it.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

It's Tuesday. I write everything I'm thinking without transitional paragraphs. You know the drill. 

I've had Chineese food 4 nights in a row (tonight will be number 5). On Friday, I wanted to order in so I could have an egg roll and some hot & sour soup. Of course we had leftovers in our fridge when we left for Amherst Saturday morning. That night I went out to dinner with my family, to Chineese. Sunday night I went out to dinner with Eric's family, also to Chineese. Last night we ate the leftovers from Friday night. Tonight we'll eat what's left from Sunday. Good thing everything we ordered was completely delicious, but I don't think I'll be asking for Chineese again till next month!

When you guys comment, I love it. I get so happy that you've taken time out of your day to visit my blog, especially because you're comments are sweet. What I don't get is why the commentors on some blogs get so out of control. Why are they so emotionally invested in criticising a person they've never met? If they don't like the blog, or the post, they certainly don't have to read it. And the defenders of the blogger's honor can be just as bad, because they make snide remarks about the "attackers." Didn't their moms ever teach them that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? On the other hand, the comments can be a real hoot. All I'm saying is I don't get why these people care so much! Any ideas?

My least favorite chore is putting my clothes away. What's yours?

Open question to the ladies: Black tie. What the heck is it? It's pretty obvious what men are supposed to wear (duh, it's called black tie!). But what about women? Over the course of Eric's time at HBS, we will be invited to a few black tie events, and I have no idea what I'll wear. Should I bust out my prom dress from 2001? What's a cocktail dress, and is that appropriate? Okay, here's the real kicker: Eric owns one tux and he will wear it  to each and every black tie event. Maybe he'll change his cuff links or pocket square, but he's basically set. But I won't be able to re-wear a dress; that would be blasphemous (right?)! Help me ladies, I need it. 

My mom gave me a bunch of those tropical drink umbrellas for my birthday in March. Yesterday morning I got the urge to string them all together and make a little hanging mobile type thing. I'm feelsing fairly festive with my party umbrellas blowing in the warm May breeze. 


Check out The Un Mom for more totally random thoughts.

Lilacs: Purple + Green

Can we just stop for a minute and be amazed by nature? Wow! Mother Nature sure knows how to make me appreciate the little things. When I'm walking down the street and there's a lilac bush bending over a fence, I can't help but stop and take in that delightful scent for a few seconds. They remind me of my childhood and of home. I find them comforting and I wish I could get our apartment to smell like that. 

Lately, I've been on a purple kick. It's not generally my color of choice (orange, remember?), but every spring I fall in love all over again. Not only with purple and lilacs, but with so many things: the smells of freshly cut grass, BBQs, and flowers, and of course colors like the brand new green of buds, popping fuschias and yellows, and understated whites. 

When I have a house, I think I might turn the yard into a forest because there are so many trees that are glorious in the spring (and I want them all).

Family Weekend

Yesterday Eric and I drove out to UMass to see my sister, Emily, dance. We met my parents and brother there. This is her first semester as a member of the Stage Crew Dance Team, and my family's first time seeing her dance with this team. It's not easy to become a member of the Stage Crew team, and I'm so proud of her. She was wonderful and beautiful. The whole team was great, and you can tell the girls work hard. 

They performed in the Mullins Center as part of the 22nd annual Color in the Cage event. Stage Crew was really only one of 3 dance acts. The other performers were members of color guard or baton twirling teams. I've never been to anything like that, but some of the stunts (is that the right word?) were very impressive. A lot of it made me giggle, I'll be honest, but I appreciate these people putting themselves out there and participating. It certainly doesn't look easy. 

While we were at UMass we also got to see Eric's youngest brother, Will. We took him to lunch at Antonio's (yum) and before we left he got us soft serve ice cream from the dining hall. That was a mistake. While he was getting the ice cream, it started to rain. And by rain I definitely mean downpour, torrentially. We had to wait a bit before we could actually get to the car, and even then we had to make a mad dash. It was fun, but sort of ruined our good-bye.  

Since we got to see my parents, I brought the Mother's Day gift I made for my mom. Yep, more cranes. I made her a mobile of 100 cranes. There are 5 strands, and each has 20 different colored cranes (the same 20 colors on each strand, but no duplicates per strand). I folded all of the cranes on Tuesday, and I strung them all together on Thursday. 

Right now Eric is out with his mom, just spending the day with her in Boston. He's taking her out to lunch and anywhere she wants to go. I'm going to go enjoy the sunshine.

Happy Mother's Day & happy weekend! 

Did You Ever Notice?

I admit it! I'm a paper crane addict! Whenever I have scraps of paper and nothing better to do, I automatically fold little cranes. Candy wrappers work too (especially Hershey's Kisses). I created some new cards for my shop with that obsession in mind. Oh and if you love The Wizard of Oz, you might want to check these out. 

I'm so excited about tomorrow. We're going to see my sister dance! We're meeting my family at UMass and we'll get to see Eric's brother, Will, too. Plus, I get to give my mom her Mother's Day gift. 

Letters From Gramma

click images for larger views

Early last week I mentioned that I was working a top secret project that I'd reveal on May 7. Today is my gramma's birthday, and I wanted the book I made for her to be a surprise. It totally was too! She wrote me the sweetest email after she received the gift. 

When I was in college, I asked my gramma to write to me about her life as a child and as a young woman. She sent me a series of emails that are very special to both of us. Since the first one, I've wanted to make some sort of book to preserve them, and this year I did it. Thanks to blurb, it's easy to make a professional book! 

I added photos (many of which my Uncle snuck out of the house and scanned for me) of family members to the letters, and now the stories have faces to go along with the names. I really love the book, and I know my gramma does too. 

Pictured (top to bottom): I wrapped the gift in pretty paper and attached a small hand drawn birthday card, the cover of the book shows my gramma on her wedding day (the dress is gorgeous and a lovely shade of brown), and the dedication page has my favorite picture of my gramma and me (as a baby, obviously).  

Happy birthday gramma. xoxo. 

Smoking Cigars

Eric smokes cigars. Not every single day, but fairly frequently. I think it's a disgusting habit, but I try not to bug him about it too much because it's something he does with his dad. It's like a bonding thing, I suppose. I don't mind as much in the spring and summer when they can smoke outside, because at least then I can join in on the conversation. I have to sit upwind, or else I feel ill. This past weekend I failed and had a stomach ache for quite a long time. 

What do you think of cigars?

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Good morning! 

Last night I went to my very first networking event. I'm naturally pretty shy, so as the event drew near, I became more and more anxious. I purposely went alone so that I'd have to talk to people I didn't know, and I think that was a good idea. I have no problem talking to people one-on-one, it's just finding that person to start the conversation with that makes my heart pound. Anyway, I actually had a very nice time and met a number of interesting people. It's a monthly event and I think I'll become a regular because it's a great way to promote Everything Little Miss and make contacts for possible job opportunities.

Semi-related is the fact that I had to leave my "office" to go to said event. I used to cross the street and take the train everyday. I think I've lost my street crossing skills. I don't know the timing of the lights anymore! Ahhh. 

Oh oh! I learned how to drive a stick on Saturday! Eric recently had his car raised to normal height (the girl he bought it from had it all customized and lowered so that every minor bump felt like a crater and pot holes were nightmares) when he had to replace some parts (I have no idea which ones - struts??). But the change in the car meant I could learn to drive it without worrying about leaving the bottom of the car behind me on the road somewhere. I did pretty well too, and I drove on a real road with real traffic. I still need to master starting from a stop, because right now it's a pretty slow start, but I'll get there!

For the past 4 weeks I've been taking an e-course with Holly Becker of Decor8, and yesterday was the last day. It was called Blogging Your Way and it really helped me feel more confident about my blogs. I'm going to miss signing in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Holly might offer this class again or offer a different class; I highly recommend signing up (check out the class badge in the right sidebar)!

This is getting pretty long, so I'll save the rest of the items on my list for next week. I'll leave you with this: On Saturday morning we went to Keezers and Eric bought a tux (yes, it's for HBS events). I totally found it and I deserve a finder's fee. It was $99, but if you look online, a new one goes for $1,784! Holy hello, I'm good. I don't have a picture of him in the tux yet (still needs  to be hemmed, but he looks REALLY handsome), but here's a photo of the store (if you need a men's suit or tux, this is the place). 

Check out The Un Mom for more totally random thoughts.

Sunday Night Party

A few weeks ago I designed an invitation for a friend's enagement party,and last night was the big event. It was a traditional (I think) Pakistani enagement party. That means that most of the time I had no idea what was going on or what anybody was saying, but I really enjoyed observing from the sidelines. Everybody was dressed beautifully and the food was delicious.

The party gave the couple a chance to officially announce their engagement in front of family and a few close friends. They exchanged "rings" (she received a beautiful solitaire engagement ring and he received a fancy watch), and then family members fed them colorful sweets (I'm not yet sure about the significance of that). Afterwards, they took millions of pictures. It was totally adorable how everybody was included in a photo-op with the bride- and groom-to-be. I'm guessing there will be billions of pictures at the wedding (can't wait!). 

In the photo: the bride & groom are seated and the groom's brother is feeding the bride one of the sweets. The little boy is the bride's nephew.

The Proust Questionnaire

A while ago, I Suwanee posted about a book called The Proust Questionnaire. It took about 5 seconds for me to become completely smitten and covet my very own copy. I follwed a link to Vanity Fair to see celebrities' answers to the questions, and that just made me want the book all the more.  Luckily, I had a handy-dandy gift certificate to Barnes & Nobel, and I picked up my book last week (they had to order it special just for me!). 

So what the heck is this questionnaire all about? Personality. When you answer the questions the asker learns a little more about you. Proust didn't invent the questionnaire, but he did make it popular. 

I haven't yet had time to read the book cover-to-cover, but I will. It's such a gorgeous book; much taller than I expected for some reason, and so deliciously pink. And it has one of those built-in bookmarks! It's yellow! It's luxurious. Swoon.

My plan for the weekend is to answer some of the questions and learn a bit more about myself. Can't wait! Happy weekend everybody.

Oh one last thing! Pretty Neat Designs featured my Oxalis Card Set in a post about gift ideas for Mother's Day!