graffiti.girl.designs

moving

2009-06-03T16:46:00.001-04:00

we are up and running at blog.cdesignsandillustrations.com - come check out the first post!

c-blog

2009-04-10T15:34:00.001-04:00

c-blog will be here soon! for now visit the new website at www.cdesignsandillustrations.com!

kitty updates

2008-12-15T14:18:00.003-05:00

kitty endorses new logo

ellie - always a little ham...

billie, always sharing my office chair

also they LOVE the christmas tree. they will not stay out of it and they pull the ornaments off and roll them around the house. we have had many discussions about this matter, and well, they dont care....lol.

c designs & illustrations studio shop

2008-12-12T22:18:00.007-05:00

hand made christmas cards and christmas gift tags, finally in my own etsy store. more to come soon, these are for sale now! http://cdesignillustration.etsy.com/

new logo design and name!

2008-12-09T12:13:00.004-05:00

finally! i new logo and name are here. i am still debating on a color scheme so there are a few options below. look for an etsy store, a new website and and a new blog soon!

what an awesome idea

2008-11-13T14:50:00.001-05:00

What do you want to say to the new administration? from Departika on Vimeo.

monday

2008-11-03T11:50:00.000-05:00

no, no work for you today. i said so.

fallicious landscapes

2008-11-02T18:41:00.004-05:00

since fall is pretty much on its last leg here in the northeast i thought i'd post these awesome fall lanscapes from last weekend taken by beck.

niagara wine trail

2008-10-29T09:18:00.005-04:00

this past saturday we spent the day on the Haunted Hallowine tour in the niagara region. niagarawinetrail.org

we went with a trip through our alma matter, a Mount Mercy Alumni Event. 9 winieries, some good wine - some baaad, pretty fall scenery, a murder mystery and diner at the wilson boat house! but mostly lots of fun with friends.

i did not even try this wine - i just loved the label!

more fun fall pics to come from this trip!

the design police

2008-10-23T15:32:00.004-04:00

i saw this, and i just had to laugh. i love it. they do exist...www.design-police.org/

settling in to their new home

2008-10-22T16:25:00.004-04:00

ellie & billie are settling right in and we couldn't love them more. they are just so sweet and love to snuggle with you and play lots. it's getting easier to tell them apart though in these photos its still impossible to tell who is who. i've grown accustomed to calling them "little faces" recently! the pictures in the shag rug were taken by our friend beck.

fall

2008-10-14T22:03:00.007-04:00

even though summer is by far my favorite season i think fall runs a close second. i love fall because of:

fall colors, browns, oranges, golds, reds and yellows in every shade
the awesome changes in nature
pumpkins and squash and all things pumpkin flavored
cool evenings
halloween decorations
all things harvesty
soups & chili
the crunch of the leaves
the smell of the season
halloween candy
tricker treaters
football

some pictures i took last fall...

whats your favorite thing about fall?

ellie & billie

2008-10-13T18:11:00.006-04:00

welcome home little kitties. the kitties were a bit reluctant to leave the carrier when they first came home, we eventually lured them out with the little balls with bells in them. now they are running around in every room happy as can be! this last pic is my favorite because her little chin is resting in sean's belly button!

after muuuuch deliberation and maaaany suggestions we landed on the names ellie and billie for ella fitzgerald and billie holiday. it's so hard to tell them apart - for now ellie is the one who purs really loudly and billie is much more vocal with the little squeaky meows. we are going to need some color collars because they are nearly impossible to tell apart otherwise!

finally...a new phone

2008-10-07T23:03:00.005-04:00

so i've had my phone for quite some time. so long in fact, my friends were making fun of me. aaaand when i asked the salesperson at the sprint store if i had an upgrade, he responded with "uh, for awhile."

sean and i are grown ups now i guess so we got our own shared plan and these awesome phones with sliding keyboards! mine is this awesome green one...

it's pretty cool so far. texting is a hell of a lot easier and everything seems to work together nicely. no complaints yet!

kitties!

2008-10-06T16:29:00.007-04:00

these sweet little guys are coming to live with me and sean!

photo courtesy of rachel at puremotif design & photography

i am so excited for them to come! we need to kitty proof our house right now! so much more to post about as i am so not caught up. i have been pretty unproductive since the return from our honeymoon. time for that to change, hopefully that will mean more regular posts!

aspen day 2 - the historic village

2008-07-24T23:55:00.014-04:00

we spent friday morning exploring the historic town of aspen. everything was sooo cute. picture amazingly preserved victorian era town in the middle of the rockies. pretty sweet.

there was a ton of galleries with awesome art, including the sighting of 2 Miro's and some work by isaac maimon whose work i loved. among many other awesome artists.

we also made a stop at paradise bakery where they had tons of gelato to choose from - mine was pomegranate. and it came with a perfectly cooked cookie on top. delicious!

everything in every store was outrageously expensive in town - i don't know where middle class or lower class people shop here. even upper class folks probably have to search out cheaper options! what was super cool was that everyone was so pleasant and blended together. it seemed very green there - lots of walkers and cyclists. which i loved. and everyone had dogs that were very well behaved and were hardly on leashes.

more to come for fridays events!

aspen - day 1

2008-07-24T11:10:00.014-04:00

after a month long absence i have returned. sometimes the time gets away from me. that's the motto of this summer though. all time has been doing is getting away from me. so anyway, back to the point. aspen - day 1.

the day started out with a hugely long time in the airport and on airplanes. well hugely long for me since i hate to sit still for any extended period of time. no worries though, i read almost an entire janet evanovich book. we landed in denver around 3 and were on our way in our rental car by 4.

the road trip consisted of some super cute mining towns, amazing mountain scenes, a stop in silverthorne for dinner and the scariest drive of my life. we crossed the Continental divide (sweet!) and traveled along independence pass (scary!). the road is two lanes and you are climbing the mountains, no guardrails - not one, hairpin turns and a 500 ft (at least) drop, oh and there are times where there is only one lane. that's right one lane and 500 ft drop. the road is not usually open in the winter. it was totally amazing though. the last picture gives you an idea of the edge of the road, guardrailess drop off. tracey (sean's sister) and i were in a panic the entire time. a mindset that i am sure was not helping sean(who was driving) one bit. fortunately, the scary part was only for about the last hour of a 3-4 hour road trip.

all these photos were taken from the car - we couldn't stop at all because we didn't want to be driving independence pass in the dark. there probably could have been more photos of the pass but i was too busy trying not to have a panic attack.

more to come, stay tuned...

crazy life

2008-06-19T22:36:00.008-04:00

don't worry i didn't disappear again. it's just my life has been such a whirlwind this past month that i haven't had time to take a minute for myself!!! quick update, in the past 30 days i have:

been to 1 wedding shower
gone to 2 bachelorette parties
went to a graduation party, Sean's brother graduated high school!
also the actual graduation was attended
a private art showing
a bridesmaids dress was accidentally donated, a very good match was found on ebay, also holding on to a match 10 sizes to big currently, every nordstrom was searched and all the goodwills
one of my very good friends had a baby (he's the first little guy of the group), so beautiful - his name is william glenn, june 9th, 8lbs 5ozs
created the 80 page ad book for the very last Jack's 5k, realized that the fact this is the last one is really, really hard
been to a wedding in ellicottville - sooooo pretty
sold my first listing!
started to put up our fence
got my second listing!
father's day parties at my parents and sean's parents
cocktail party for friends who are getting married in week
missed a real estate class - opps!
finally hit 2.5 miles running - tomorrow i will be doing 3 at the race!
said farewell to one of my closest friends who got an awesome job in chicago
worked my butt off
got all the rest of the wedding flowers
went to see dave matthews on darien lake - too bad it was like fall out
finished and mailed out our save the dates
aaaaaand something that feels like a million, zillion other things...

as i typed this i realized i have tons of pictures of these things...those will be coming soon!

tonight: finally had some me time, watched 27 dresses with my mom and sean (yes that is how much he loves me). it was sooooo cute. LOVE the benny & the jetts scene - totally makes the movie!

lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

2008-06-05T19:10:00.011-04:00

ok. well not quite. more like fox and ducks and moths. this has been quite the year for wildlife in our neighborhood (at my parents house). yesterday a giant moth took up residence on the side porch and did not budge all day. wasn't bothered by people coming close, the lawn mower of the neighbor cutting our grass or the leaf blower when he was cleaning up the trimmings. besides that, early spring we had a fox living in our backyard and our next door neighbor had a duck lay her eggs in her front garden.

i googled this guy, and found out it is a polyphemus moth. while i am not really into bugs, i found this fascinating because it was so big. the quarter photos makes me believe he is about 5 inches across and apparently they can grow up to 6 inches across.

this little guy hung out for about a month in our backyard. he's sleeping there in the sun. the only time you could get a photo of him was when was sleeping. otherwise he would run and hide under the pool deck!

unforuntately no photos of the ducks. though they were way cuter than the moth. she was pretty protective of her eggs and i didn't want to scare her.

any interesting wildlife in your yard this spring?

i can only aspire...

2008-06-04T12:29:00.006-04:00

i just read about this on Jenn Ski's Blog. who by the way is an awesome graphic designer with lots of great work.

this house is amazing. i can only aspire to collect this many awesome retro things. just the clocks alone totally rock. i'm in heaven i swear. as seen on apartment therapy (click for even more photos)

save the date

2008-05-30T16:10:00.008-04:00

yes my wedding is just 3 months away. and yes i just put my save the dates in the mail today. what can i say, creating design for yourself is tough business. i am glad i waited, because i am happy with how the save the dates turned out. it was important to me to get the hotel information to our out of town guests, bridal party and family members before the invitations went out. so it wasn't a huge endeavor since we only had to send about 45 of them out.

since our reception is in an old mansion in historic allentown i wanted something vintage buffalo. for inspiration i used vintage buffalo post cards that i have been collecting and a book called "Postcard Views - A Walk Down Main Street Buffalo, New York, circa 1910." now i can't wait to do the invites! while they won't necessarily be postcard themed, they will incorporate a historic buffalo theme!

i know. i have been mia the past week. it has pretty much been a whirlwind, and this weekend will be too. updates on all that soon!

the bachelorette bouquet

2008-05-23T16:56:00.006-04:00

my friends call me craftastic. i think it's fun word. and i try to act on it as often as possible. i have 2 bachelorette parties to go to this weekend and i have been working on perfecting "the bachelorette bouquet." this is bouquet number 4 & 5 and i am really pleased with how they turned out. the center is 5 or 6 pairs of underwear made to look like flowers. i especially like this gift for a few of reasons:

it's not raunchy...
you can tailor the underwear to suit the person you are giving it to, a really conservative person can get really conservative under garments and you won't embarrass them
it plays along with the wedding theme! bachelorettes often have veils when they go out - so why not a bouquet too?

i am thinking about marketing and selling these soon. what do you think? i am trying to come up with a price. any ideas? i would certainly need some better photos...

weekend in review

2008-05-21T13:04:00.008-04:00

yes it's wednesday, and weekend in review blogs should probably be on monday. but oh well.

friday: happy hour and dinner out for my friend liz (liz is on the right in the photo below) who is moving to chicago this weekend. she got an awesome job working for kerri foods, so we are proud of her! but we are still sad she is leaving. i am working on convincing her to start a blog.... while we were there we ate some delicious nachos (below), and had a lot of good laughs, note below: chris stole some steak from lauren's salad and then dropped it in his beer...
saturday: worked in the morning, a little design then some real estate. then sean and i cleaned our house like crazy in preparation for our little party. lauren graduated from law school on saturday! and we had a small gathering at our house, liz (resident pastry chef) made creme brulee and we played beer pong on our front lawn...classy. we had other tasty foods including some hummus, brownies, veggies and dip and some home made salsa that i made.
sunday: i held an open house, it was so dreary and only 5 groups came, good thing i brought my book because they all showed up in the last half hour.

i just finshed book #3 in the janet evanovich, stephanie plum series - such chick lit. i love it!
sunday afternoon we painted the walls in our hall, we still have to do the trim and hang the light so photos then!

homemade salsa recipe:

3 large tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1/3rd of a medium size red onion
1 tbsp of lemon juice
half of a medium sized hot pepper (your choice depending on how much heat you like, mine was pretty mild)
chop everything and mix together, make sure to take the seeds out of the pepper first unless you want a ton of kick, i didn't have my food processor so mine was more of a chopped salsa, but you can zap it in the food processor a couple of seconds!

whew - we had a busy weekend. this upcoming weekend should be even more insane...

random bits

2008-05-15T15:56:00.005-04:00

the power went out here 3 times today, twice while i was on a conference call, my cell service was knocked out twice. the third time power was out for almost 2 hours. why you ask? i have no idea since it is 60 and sunny here today.
i used the time the power was out to organize some paperwork/receipts, pack some things to move over to mine and seans and go for a run/walk.
my shins are doing fairly well! yay! i was out for about 30 mins, and according to mapmyrun i did about 2.5 miles.
sean and are painting the ceiling in our back hall tonight, little by little the back hall and kitchen will be complete...then its on to the bedroom upstairs which is pretty much a blank slate, but i really want to have it done so we can move in there together when we get married
i am so excited for american idol next week, i like the davids a lot, it should be fun, though i don't think the producers should be allowed to pick songs anymore
this week i got my first official listing (i've sold houses, but I haven't been on the listing side before), cute little 50s cape - open house this sunday!

thirft store tuesdays

2008-05-14T13:10:00.005-04:00

yes. i am know it is not tuesday. though, for the first half of the day i thought it was tuesday as i planned this post in my head. so, oh well, its thrift store tuesday on wednesday.

i haven't been thrift storing in a realllllly long time. so this post is going to be about all my existing thrift store finds in my family room. please excuse the sucky pictures, they were taken a while ago when i was playing with settings on my camera.

This was the inspiration for this whole room. Leather chair, found at my church's flea fling, $10.
Leather foot stool, at the perfect height, found at City Mission thrift store, $10.
Funny little table, I refinished the top by stripping off the existing polyurethane and stain, I restained it, painted the edge and coated it with poly, found at the Amvets on Hertel, $12.
Two light fixture, a thrift store find from my mom so I don't know the details. Hard to see in this picture really... but the paper shades are perfectly in tact which is hard to find.
Two tier TV stand, free from a friend
This is actually a desk, the very skinny strip above the 3 drawers is a pull out writing surface, and the space above with the verticle slats opens up for more store, I painted the shelves (they had red ink stains on them), added a fresh coat of stain to the whole things, new hardware on the drawers ($1.50 each), and my dad reglued the bottom leg on. St Vincent de Paul Thrift store, $20.
Hard to see on here, but there are 4 vintage cameras (now 5) on these shelves, my mom found these as well, a few bucks each.
Solid wood coffee table, a couple of scratches on top covered with matching stain, The Stock Exchange on Hertel, combined purchase with #12, $175 for the two(minus $100 gift card!).
Light teal lamp, hard to see in this photo again, another one of my mom's finds, not sure on info, it think $2.
Lamp shade, City Mission Thrift Store, $7.
End table, solid wood, with brass wrapped on legs, A+ Thrift store, $30 (my mom and I trying to get this in my Jetta - priceless. Sean had to come get us with his parent's van)
Leather chair, just cleaned up with some lemon juice and cream of tartar, also from The Stock Exchange on Hertel, combined purchase with #8, $175 for the two (-$100 gift card)

so that's everything so far. my mom joked I will get all the furniture in my house for under $1000. now I am not sure she is too far off....

ps: what does everyone think about the glass block wall? i have a love hate relationship with it and have a different plan for it everyday.

missing michelle

2008-05-13T14:30:00.006-04:00

in honor of michelle taking a hiatus from the blogging world i have decided i must blog and maybe keep blogging. well at least until she comes back to join us in the blogosphere. since i was not prepared for a topic today, i think some bright sun shinny photos (all taken this spring) are in order.

grammy's: winners & losers

2008-02-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

winner the awesome graphic design for the event, especially the 50 logo - couldn't find an image with the award dropped out to white which is how it showed up on screen and looked super sweet

loser the host of the grammy outdoor event, can we say cheese factor, not funny, except for painfully funny

winner the competitors in the mygrammy competition - 3 awesome musicians

winner alicia keys, both of her performances, she rocks

loser the dress alicia keys wore for her first performance? seriously, if you boobs look like they are going to pop out the middle of your dress - don't wear it

winner the tribute to the beatles performances, showcasing cirque d'soliel and across the universe

loser kanye west's performance of "stronger," i expected more from him, what was with the outerspace-esque costuming and set?

winner amy winehouse for sweeping awards up despite her inability to get back in the country

loser amy winehouse's reaction to winning, she looked like someone stun gunned her, while everyone celebrated around her in London

winner tina turner for being able to rock like she did back in the day, still dancing in heels

winner tina & beyonce rocking out proud mary

loser tina turners inability to show expression, do her and joan rivers go to the same doctor?

winner the show overall, it rocked, tons of music - more than enough to keep you entertained - something for everyone

loser me, for falling asleep before it was over - thank goodness for dvr!

the mouton noir

2008-02-06T16:24:00.001-05:00

thought i'd share a little bit of what i've been working on lately. this is a character i created for a boutique "Mouton Noir" in nevada. she's had a few different outfits - but this is her final look. a little sassy right?

Mouton Noir = Black Sheep

some redecorating

2008-02-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

well, i am very excited to say that i finally wallpapered my kitchen! i have had this wallpaper since we first bought the house last spring - so it has been quite some time. (by the way, this wallpaper was an awesome clearance find). i have not done the soffets yet - that will hopefully be a project for this weekend. they are going to be wrapped in the paintable wallpaper, and painted too look like tin ceiling!

by the way, this is my first wallpaper job ever (i prefer paint). but the walls were really rough in this room, and wallpaper can hide a lot of sins. my friend came over to teach me how to do it, it's kinda of like a design mock up project. lots of measuring and cutting and problem solving.

i also took a spur of the moment trip with my friend and her sister to ikea (just over an hour away in canada) and bought a rug for our family room.
here are some pictures!

the wallpaper looks like paint, no? you can see the space above the cabinets are still white, or have old wallpaper on them - thats where the tin ceiling-esq wallpapering will be done.

new rug! its shag white, 100% wool. it goes with all of our mid century modern collection of furniture. more pictures once this room is done, it could be a mile long post for thrift store tuesday some week!

the 101 things post

2008-01-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

i sell real estate, because i love houses and i can't have them all, at least this way i get to see a lot of them
i am a freelance graphic designer
i am obsessed with thrift stores
love lots of old things, especially items from the mid century era, plus a few years either way
i like to bake & cook
i could watch the food network & hgtv for hours and not get bored
i am obsessed with friends, i own every season, and i can probably recite all the words to "the one with the embryos," season 4, disk 2, last episode on this disk
i have a similar obsession with the gilmore girls, its just not as advanced
i have a christmas tree decorated completely with shoe ornaments
i watch way too much tv, and the writers strike is killing me
i love to scrapbook, but haven't in a couple of years
i am always the one who is taking all the pictures
i am still very close with most of my friends from high school
i wish my friends from college lived here and not all over this side of the country
my fiance's and my birthday are 4 days apart, we were born in the same hospital, my mom had to be in the hospital longer than usual after she had me, so we were in the hospital nursery at the same time
we didn't meet till we were seniors in high school
i have one brother, he is younger than me
i want to travel everywhere, and have a list of all the places i want see
i have europe planned in 5 easy trips
i can get really interested in just about anything
i have a burning desire to be wildly successful
but sometimes i have a hard time motivating myself because i am overwhelmed
i pretty much have 3 business right now, wedding invitations, real estate and freelance design
i most want to grow my wedding invitations business
sometimes i want to do something completely different, like own restaurant, or a paper boutique, or rebuild the gardenville community (oldest part of west seneca, where we bought our home)
i love animals, i took in a stray cat in college, she had 4 babies, momma and one baby live with my parents
i often think about being a vegetarian, but i have never tried it
i think recycling is great, i like to convert people to being avid recyclers, i have successfully done this with at least 2 people
i am excited to be able to have a compost and a vegetable garden when i move into my house
i love it here in buffalo, ny
i believe we should have a metropolitan government
i want to be independently wealthy
i don't know why, because i live for sales and thrift store shopping
i am always proud of my great sale finds, ie the pj pants i got from old navy last week for $3.50, actually i spent $17 total and got pj pants, tank top, zip up sweater and 3 sets of christmas ornaments - see?
i long to be a domestic goddess (stolen from michelle, but very true about me too)
i want everyone close to me to be happy. i hate when anyone is in pain and i want to fix it
i get very happy when good things happen to people i care about
i often talk so fast that people can't really understand me
i do this when i type too, i leave out words, and even when i proofread i think they are there as a read
my roommates from grad school and i have a plastic banana that we pass around between the 3 of us (we all live in different places)
i have a lot of problems with my stomach - mostly related to stress
i also clench my jaw a lot when i am stressed, and i don't know i am doing it until my head hurts
i used to be a runner, i stopped when i graduated high school and never really got back into it
i wish i was still a runner
cross country and track are some of the best memories i have of high school, they really influenced who i am a great deal
one of my coaches died when i was a junior in high school, he was the first person i knew really well that died in my life, that was 9 years ago today
i wrote my admissions essay for mercyhurst college about him and took my confirmation name after him. he was an inspirational person.
i hate to make decisions, i fear i will make the wrong one
i over analyze everything
including my wedding registry, which is insane because everything can be returned
my roommate from senior year and i used to eat oreos and watch golden girls at night
i haven't talked to her in over a year, even though we played phone tag for a couple of weeks this past fall
i never thought it would be this hard to write 101 things about myself
i had a huge phase where i loved purple, i think it started my sophomore year in high school and ended my senior year in college
my new phase is brown
i wear glasses and have since i was in 3rd grade
my favorite job ever was when i was the advisor to the ambassador club
my last job could have been really awesome, but it took a majorly bad turn
i quit my last job, without having another full time job, it was scary
my very first job was at anderson's custard and roast beef, i was 16
i know one day i will have kids, right now the thought of it scares the crap out of me
i am ashamed to say i find other peoples kids irritating and i didn't used to
i love class and i miss it now that i don't have anymore
i still haven't finished my masters thesis, i finished my coursework in winter of 06
i feel i have seriously messed this up and i don't know how to fix it, so i avoid it
sometimes i am hugely confident that my businesses will be a success, other times i doubt i will make another penny
i wish i dressed more stylishly and sometimes i spend a few weeks at a time pretending that i dress stylishly and wear make up
truth is, i rarely wear make up unless i am going out or have an important appointment
i love movies
i never remember any celebrities name, unless they are super famous, like julia roberts
it drives me absolutely mad when i can't remember why someone looks familiar in a movie or tv show or where i saw them last
my favorite movie used to be 10 things i hate about you, before that is forever young and now i don't know what my favorite movie is
when i was a kid i collected business cards
i like to think of myself as an artist
i often hate whatever i design, until i revisit it later (months even years), then i am usually satisfied
i want to come up with a plan to save buffalo - or rather put it back on the map
i try very hard to be organized, and i have a great ability to organize things, however usually the inside of my purse ends up full of crap and a pile of clothes usually ends up on my bed, the floor and 2 of the 4 chairs in my room
i always fall asleep to the tv, it distracts me from my over analyzing madness long enough to fall asleep
i am really bad at returning phone calls from friends
i am also slightly afraid of the phone when i have to call someone i don't know, this works out awesome in a sales job, let me tell you
even though i quit my old job, i miss it, not the insanity, but the people and my actual work
i love popcorn
i also love ice cream
i often can't decide between the 2
my fiance is my first love
i can tell you the exact moment i knew i loved him, when he first told me he loved me, when we first kissed, and when we had our first real kiss, when he asked me out and how he did it
i majored in graphic design, minored in marketing
my masters degree will be in organizational leadership
i went to college with 17 college credits that i earned in high school
i nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown in high school because of this
i always felt like anything below an 80% was failing, though as far as i can remember i have only actually failed 2 tests
i met my fiance at a wake
summer is my favorite time of year, but fall is a close second
i have a mild purse obsession
i love paper, and i have an emotional disconnect from conservation of trees and my love for beautiful papers
i spent a whole summer and part of a winter researching recycled paper, paper from alternative fibers, paper usages and how mercyhurst could convert to a greener paper consumption plan, my plan was well received by the president of the college, i don't know if they have used it though
favorite current show - greys anatomy
i am a huge procrastinator
i collect vintage buffalo postcards
i am roman catholic, though i more closely align myself with the beliefs of the sisters of mercy, which are all based on service & compassion
i always went to a school where the sisters of mercy were
it took me 3 separate sittings to write this list

i wonder if people will think i am totally insane now...don't judge too harshly...

evil temptresses

2008-01-11T14:53:00.000-05:00

have you seen that commercial for caramel Quaker rice cakes? the one where the girl is driving along and every coffee shop, donut store and fast food place she sees she can't help but look? and then she sees the giant sign, that just says EAT CAKE. i've decided - that's me. Quaker stole my personality and used it for a commercial.

temptation is everywhere calling my name. i go into the office, almond M&Ms and Godiva chocolates. great. 20 M&Ms and 2 chocolates by the time i leave there. then this is me driving home: tim hortons...oooo cafe mocha/sour cream donut; mcdonalds....french fires, yum; denny's...wow bacon and eggs sounds good; picassos .... cheesy pizza, i can't live without you.

seriously? i think i am being killed by subliminal messaging...

theeeeeen i get home, and my mom and aunt are there, ready to do shower planning, with cups of tea and a big hunk of fudge. (at least there was also a clementine & a slice of white pizza)

how is a girl ever going to fit in her wedding dress i ask you?????

a new look

2008-01-09T10:08:00.000-05:00

hi. my blog needs a makeover. any ideas? that's right. the graphic designer has no ideas....

Beautiful Buffalo Fridays: Hockeytown, USA

2008-01-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

i know. i know. i know. i have been MIA for almost 3 weeks. but i am back. i promise. it's sunday - but this is a beautiful buffalo friday post. hope everyone had a really fabulous holiday season - happy 2008!

____

waaaaaaay back in october, the hometown favorites - the buffalo sabres, were presented with the nhl presidents trophy (for the best record in the 06-07 season). the sabres were on fire last year. the team gained tons of national attention - and so did the fans.

buffalo has always been a hardcore hockeytown - but finally the fans got the recognition they've always deserved here. buffalo was officially named, HOCKEYTOWN, USA. along with this honor, buffalo got to host the nhl's largest outdoor hockey event in the united states - the Winter Classic. good, old fashioned, outdoor hockey. 71,000+ in attendance, nationally televised, tickets nearly impossible to get - and we were there. oh yeah and we were on NBC & ESPN.

fans stop at nothing to deck out their cars.....

the entire Ralph Wilson Stadium (home of the buffalo bills) was completely transformed in a mere 7 days, an ice rink in the middle of the football field...

parking lot packed, absolutely packed with tailgaters, live music and entertainment, hockey players on stilts, jugglers throwing flames, face painting for kids, and over sized vintage blow up jerseys - oh yes and i did i mention this was all on New Years day? - it was quite the party

there was an awesome energy in the stadium when the teams came out, plus it was the perfect snow throughout all the play - funnily enough - it did not snow during intermissions.

(sign reads: New years in Buffalo: Classic - our sign is not what got us on tv either) we were all certainly bundled up tight as you can see. just to give you an idea: i had on 2 hats, 2 pairs of gloves, cami tank, long john type shirt, short sleeve shirt, ski coat, sweatshirt, cuddle dud pants, sweatpants, ski pants, ski socks, boots and a nice supply of hand warmers and hot chocolate....

all in all we had an awesome time. yep. i'm pretty sure all 71,000+ fans had a pretty rockin' new years.

Thrift Store Tuesdays

2007-12-18T21:08:00.000-05:00

today we went to our favorite thrift store. usually when we go there, there are so many great things we can't decide which to take home. today, that was not the case. i think because of the holidays things are a bit slow. i am willing to bet they pick up once everyone has their new years resolutions in place to clean things out...

despite the lack of tons of things we would love to have there were a few good finds today.

find #1 was this christmas tree dish. it was so very retro and cool i could not pass it up. yes, i do realize this was someone ceramic project from the 70s... but it matches my stuff :)

find #2. a beautiful and very large juicer. who juices things? i don't know. but it was $2.99 and so pretty. if i make homemade lemonade once it will be worth it.

find #3. theeeeeeeee best find of the day. at least in the opinion of the graphic designer. this set of 24 vintage christmas cards had to be mine. aaaaand i love them. now the question is cherish them forever in all their vintagey goodness or use them?

Snow begins as a rumor in Buffalo, NY

2007-12-16T09:21:00.000-05:00

All they've been talking about for days is the big snow storm, it's finally here and right now it's no different then any other year.... 20"s they say, everyone here says we'll see. All the build up - but will it live up to it? The past couple of days made me think of the prologue to a book I read this summer, "The Last Fine Time." It's the story of Buffalo toward the end of it's heyday - but the prologue is present day, and nothing I have ever seen describes the build up to a snow storm quite like it....

"Snow begins as a rumor in Buffalo, New York. The local television newscasters report it at noon, six, and eleven .To predict the possible path of winter's first storm, weatherpersons use live radar maps and pointers and an exchange of sober looks with the camera. Radio stations - even hard-rock channels - mention the on coming snow at least once every five minutes throughout the day. .... But it is the mood that makes a snowstorm, and the mood in Buffalo begins as a rumor. The elderly put their heads together and fret...Cashiers at the enormous Bell's (Bell's is no more - we'll exchange this for Tops) and Wegman's supermarket's around town swap weather gossip with their customers over the bar code readers at every checkout aisle...The girl's at Poise N' Ivy, a fashion boutique on Main Street in Williamsville, talk about the snow with no less fervor and foreboding than do the boys next door at Bert Sweeney Men's Clothing or the skeleton crews down at the grain elevators beside the Buffalo harbor or the carpenters raising condominiums and luxury homes in what used to be woods along Transit Road all the way out to Lockport. From their glassed-in showrooms on Transit Road itself, auto-salesmen watch the weather laying itself in from the west, the clouds like a field of gray tumuli.."

The prologue is about 9 pages, so I won't go on - but you get the idea. It's all everyone talks about, it's the only thing happening...and then a couple days later. "We've had worse - that was nothing..."

Beautiful Buffalo Fridays

2007-12-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

finally, after lots of thinking about what the heck i would write on my blog i came up with some ideas to get me posting. my mom and have lately been spending a couple hours every tuesday thrift storing and coming up with some fabulous finds. blog posts: thrifting through tuesday. AND, as you can see from my sidebar i am in love with buffalo (shhhh don't tell my fiance). i think everyone should know a little more about buffalo and the surrounding community. blog posts: beautiful buffalo fridays. maybe someone will even find something to do on the weekend then. in the future there might be another day or 2 but for now 2 is my best shot.

BEAUTIFUL BUFFALO FRIDAYS: VIDLERS 5 & 10

want to take a step back in time? vidlers five & dime is for you. great anytime of the year, but the holidays always seem like the best time to go. located in east aurora, a suburb outside of buffalo it fits right in the old time village. vidlers has been open since 1930 and is still owned and operated by the same family.

anything you can imagine - you can find it here. from old fashioned candies, to every crafting supply possible, toys (even the nostalgic ones), whirly gigs, home decor and every shape cookie cutter known to mankind. the store is huge, when you are in it, you can't believe there could be another room of more things - it seems to go on forever. they even have the penny scale (which still only costs a penny!)

nostalgic christmas shopping at its best. just like in the movies...

http://www.vidlers5and10.com/

november in review

2007-12-06T13:42:00.000-05:00

i am new to this blogging thing. so i am trying a few different things out. i just loaded all my most recent photos in my computer. so i thought why not share. so here we go: a month in review....

nov 2 ... ROAD TRIP! 5 of us piled into a car - my car to be exact - and headed to rochester to see tragically hip. it resulted in eating waaaaaaay to much food at the Dinosaur bbq (amazing food!)...
this goofy upside down picture that i took (don't worry i wasn't driving), some really hyper people in the backseat...and this sweet band, plus a lot of warring between leafs and sabres fans (the hip followers are big hockey fans)

nov 3...hook. a sweet little guy all curled up with my purse. so cute. for those of you who don't know, hook was the baby of the pregnant stray who came to live with me in college. don't worry remi still lives here - she is just less of a ham for the camera.

nov 4 - hook - fast asleep.no i did not do this to my cat. i am not one of those people. my cat does this him self. he gets right under the covers - sometimes you don't even know he is there.

nov 10...Grandma's 70th B-Dayi love my gram shes so happy. we had a fun little party at my parents house!

nov 17... my mom's 50th B-Day.
my mommy and my daddy. they are so cute and so happy. yaya!cutting into the cake. i made this cake. i am working on my baking skills - this cake looked pretty on the outside but i am pretty sure it wouldn't be staying up without tons of frosting and the help of sean.

my mom and her sisters are getting down.

nov 18 - House Hunting with my friends & a little Sunday Night Footballhelping my friends find their new home! they didn't buy this one - but they did buy a beautiful home not far from this one!my dad and i went the bills game. it was sweet - buffalo was on national television. the city looked awesome on NBC. too bad Tom Brady and the gang ran us right over and ran the score right up. the best part though, Kevin Everett above, appeared on the jumbo-tron before the game started and thanked everyone for their support. he was injured so severely in the first game of the season they thought he was paralyzed - miraculously he is not and he is in rehab has been able to walk to a certain extent. it was very emotional.

nov 21 ... the night before Thanksgiving ... and Tricia's 25th B-day
good dinner with good friends at cozumel - great bar/restaurant in Allentown (you'll come to find Allentown is one of my favorite places). they have cactus strips here by the way - a surprisingly tasty treat.only classy for us. ok maybe just maybe the martini was a little too full....

nov 22 ... Thanksgiving, the day of the boots....you might ask why does she have a photo of boots. i mean at least a generic turkey should go here or some family photo. but no boots. ya know how tons of people have boots that look pretty much just like this? well i too have a pair. apparently so did sean's cousin's girlfriend. it was her first family party. and ya know what i did? i wore her boots home. thats right i left with her boots, went to my aunts house, so cousins could pick christmas gift names. put them back on and went to parents so we could watch greys anatomy. only to get a panicked message from sean's sister. christa has danny's girlfriend's boots....seriously?

I know some soldiers in here...

2007-11-29T18:45:00.001-05:00

So finally I have been persuaded by my friend Michelle and some past persuading by my friend Rachel (a failed xanga blog for me!) to write my first post. Rachel and Michelle are the only people I know in the blog world - so maybe I will make some blog friends!

I was finally inspired by the game below when Michelle did it - so that's what I'm going to do. I think it's really just because I want to play this game ;)

MEME Rules: (can I just say I don't even know what this stands for - I am that blog illiterate)

1. Put Your itunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT

After you’ve answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and then let them know they’ve been tagged to do the meme themselves!

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Don't Drink the Water - DMB
(I guess it's not ok.)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen
(a good song.)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
The Jolly Butcher - Great Big Sea
(A one stand, and a unsuspected baby - not so much.)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
(a pretty upbeat song - i have been pretty upbeat today - i like it.)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
I'll Take You On - Howie Day
(sounds like a good give it a try again song a good life's purpose to me ;))

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
These Days - Rascal Flatts
( "Yeah, life throws you curves, But you learn to swerve" - that part could be a good life motto for me - for anyone)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Good for Me - Amy Grant
(Hahaha. Yep there's Amy Grant on my iTunes, one day I loaded every CD ever owned into my iTunes. I hope my friends think I am good for them.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Someday We'll Know - New Radicals
(Great song. I guess it could even describe my parents, they always say "someday you'll understand why"-my parents are finally starting to say that less to me, because I am finally starting to understand)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Chi Mi Na Morbheanna, Mise Erie, Labhair An Teanga Ghaeilge - Jackdaw
(This is a local irish rock band, I don't know what any of those words mean, this is an intro all in Gaelic - weird)

WHAT IS 2+2?
3 am - Oar
(ha - 2+2=3 not quite.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Power to the People - John Lennon
(not sure what to even say about this one)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Promises- Eric Clapton
(I certainly hope this isn't true! A little one sided - not so fun)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Extra Pale - Goo Goo Dolls
(not so much true, at least i hope not.)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I hear you knockin - I have no idea which version this is, I think it's Dave Edmunds
(i've got nothing, i am more focused on who the artist is now, lol)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I wish I was wrong - Travis Tritt
(This game is not amusing me anymore - I definitely do not think this. lol.)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"#34" - DMB
(not really applicable)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Hold me. Thrill me. Kiss me. Kill me. - U2
(good song, but we are going to dance to Michael Buble, Everything )

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash
(ok, I sorta cheated here, I skipped the song before this, mainly because it was labeled track 20, and i had no idea what it was, on that note, i hope this song is fitting for me someday!)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Recovering the Satellites - Counting Crows
(a bit depressing. i need a more fun hobby.)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Take What You Take - Lilly Allen
(This describes the attitude I try to have, be what you feel)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Bless the Broker Road" - Rascal Flatts
(my friends have helped me through many tough times - it's fitting.)

WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
Soldier - Destiny's Child
(random for a first post - ha!)

I think I have a weird assortment of music now, I too am surprised some other things didn't come up, but I guess just because I listen to them all the time doesn't really change random order!

I have no one to tag, since Michelle did this already and she tagged Rachel!

ok i did it - i finally posted. yay me!