Smörgåsbord

I have blogger's block.

Have you noticed?

Can't think of anything good to blog about these days.

Well, actually, I think of a lot of things, just not many good things.

Driving home in the storm we had today I was thinking - maybe I should just post a smörgåsbord. Here are things I've played with posting about lately. Little topics. My smörgåsbord.

• A smörgåsbord is Swedish for "large heterogeneous mixture" {or buffet/mixture of foods}. And how appropriate considering I'm Swedish {well, of descent}. My Grandpa used to call me his "Svenska flicka" {Swedish girl}. His father was quite Swedish {hence the Erickson, which I'm told used to be spelled Ericsson.}
  
  
• When chosing a bank, DO go with Key Bank. DO NOT go with US Bank. {Why? I love Key Bank. My business and our personal accounts are with Key Bank. They're great, and recently were rated very high for customer service. US Bank on the other hand, well thats a whole other post. But ask me sometime and I'll be happy to enlighten you on how those criminals swindled us out of hundreds of our wedding gift money. They're evil.}
  
  
• My Favorite Songs of Spring 2009 is a hang up between Love Story by Taylor Swift {who is the cutest darn girl that ever happened, after Eisley of course} and Pirates from The Blue Sky Project.
  Pirates is a song based on this commercial - which I've loved loved loved ever since the first time I've seen it {so much I had to go hunting down the composer on AdTunes.com}:
  
  

They made a whole song out of it, WONDERFUL:



And I have to post the Love Story music video, too, because I am equally in love with it - it's chock full of regency era romanticism:

Click Link - embedding video is disabled

• Peonies are in season. :::sigh::: Approximately two weeks out of the year I get to enjoy my favorite flowers in real life instead of just in pictures. They're so delightfully shabby pretty.
  
• Eisley is walking. Sort of.
  

• I actually wrote a blog post about guacamole the other day. I'm glad I decided not to post it. It was lame {lamer than my smörgåsbord}. Who blogs about guacamole?
  
  
• I got a birthday gift in the mail already. From Anthro! A 15% discount card. Not that big of a deal but the adorable little envelope it came in was super cute. If you don't have an Anthro card, make sure to sign up for one, they're free and come with perks.
  

• Speaking of my birthday, it happens to fall on Justin's first Father's Day this year.
  
  
• I drove past a tornado last weekend. On my way down to a family dinner with my family I was taking the "scenic route" and it was really stormy. I saw what looked like a tornado but I wasn't sure. It was a couple miles away, some people were pulling over but I didn't. It went away soon after that. I didn't actually know it was a real tornado until Justin told me later that there was one down there. Weird.
  
  
• At the said family dinner my parents recently confessed that they actually pulled the "replace the dead pet with one that looks just like it" stunt with my pet fish. I had always thought it was amazing that Cocoa lasted like 9 years. {Who does that with fish? My parents, apparently.}
  
  
  That's all. Did you enjoy my smörgåsbord?

Now hopefully my blogger's block will past soon or we'll be stuck with more of this...

Wait, one more thing. Do you get Showtime? If so, you should be tuning into Nurse Jackie. It's really good. So far.

Goodbye Ferris

Today Eisley and I went to see the grandparents, and Ferris. Ferris was diagnosed with cancer almost two months ago now. My parents have been buying as much time as they could for Ferris, having to use the blender to turn meals into soup so he could eat. But unfortunately, the quality of life just wasn't there anymore.


Ferris was a Christmas present to me, from Justin, actually. That was in 2000. But really, Ferris was a gift to the whole family. He was our dog Ferris. We have many wonderful memories of him. One we get a kick out of is the time Ferris came with us all to drop me off at college in Washington. We took a third car for that dog! One morning in the hotel in Gig Harbor my mom and sister and I were in the lobby, probably waiting for breakfast or something.

Suddenly we hear an escalating noise:

badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP!

Everyone in the lobby looked around for the source of the growing noise - construction perhaps? And then suddenly, Ferris comes barreling around the corner and into the lobby, tongue flapping, feet pounding. Apparently dad had lost hold of him as they were exiting the room. You would have had to have been there to understand... the ruckus he made was unbelievable.
But that was only one of many good memories. Today he had a great time at the dog park, he perked up again and enjoyed life. Eisley got a kick out of watching him.

I think especially fondly of Ferris when I remember how much joy he brought to my aging Grandma Hartke when she lived with my parents. She completely spoiled him with treats, as she always made sure to have treats on hand.

And so today it was time to say goodbye to Ferris. My Christmas present. Dad's fishing companion. Mom's "darling". It was not easy to say goodbye to such a friend. The weary look in his eyes made it easier, though. He was not himself anymore.
Do pets go to heaven? This is an issue for so many people, there are 12.5 million Google results when you search "do pets go to heaven." I, for one, like to think that they do. We have a loving God. A God who loves all his creation.
""In Paradise there was complete harmony between man and animals; one day again that harmony will be restored and all creation will be made anew as Christ will be in all and all." - Martin Luther"

So I humor myself and think about today, around 1pm when my parents took him on his last car ride {to the vet} - that around 1pm {mountain time, of course} in Heaven some angels and saints standing near the pearly gates might have heard an awful ruckus....








badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP! badaDUMP!

...turning and searching for the ruckus, only to see our Ferris {cancer free} barreling towards them.

And if that happened today, there, of course, was one person waiting for him, I'm sure. Someone who wasn't surprised at the ruckus, but instead was prepared. With treats. Ready to spoil our Ferris.

everybaby, everwhere...

There comes a time...



for every baby.....



everywhere....




when the wonder....


the magic....


the amusement....




of the tupperware cupboard is discovered.

Oh the joy.

{My First Mother's Day}

Sunday was my very first Mother's Day. I've joined the ranks of the maternal women who get to celebrate the joys of being a mother on a special day of the year. But I have to say... it's felt more like Mother's Week to me.

The fun started last Wednesday, when I pulled into the driveway, home from a shopping trip with Eis. I spotted a package on my doorstep. When I saw the box said Amazon.com on the side, I have to admit my first thought was, "Uh oh... did I drink too much and order something on Amazon again? Justin is going to kill me..." But I couldn't remember any recent "Heather's-had-one-too-many's" {heheh..} so puzzled, I unloaded our groceries and Eisley and set out unwrapping the box.

What I found inside surprised and delighted me. Martha's Encyclopedia of Crafts! A book I've had my eye on for a few weeks now.

Upon reading the packing slip I saw, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Mom"

Thanks Mom! I love it and there's SO many crafts I'm already itching to try...
especially the marbleizing craft. I can't wait to try this one...
That was my very first Mother's Day gift. Ever.

On Mother's Day, we went to early church and then Justin left us for work. Sad :-( but a short day for him. We ordered Chinese food for dinner. Yum!
Oh, and I can't forget to mention - we also *all* got a really precious Mother's Day gift: a new nephew named Noah! (Say that five times fast.)

Yes, little Noah was born on Mother's Day and is healthy and cute as a button and we can't wait to meet him!

Monday I worked hard ;-) piping one hundred forget-me-nots for cake class.

Today Eisley's cousin Moriah (the new big sister) came over for a haircut with Grandma Holly. Afterwards Justin took us ladies (Holly, myself, and Miss Eisley) out to the Augustine Grill which was really lovely.
On Saturday Bea and I had lunch at PF Changs where she gifted me with an Anthro giftcard {be still my heart}. So, today a trip to the mall was in order. Justin promised to let me pick out something at Anthro too as a Mother's Day gift from him and Eisley. Ooh! A giftcard and a husband's debit card...

What'd I choose?

Well, I've had my eye on this silverware for quite a while now. A 5-piece set is $24 {which actually didn't seem like much when we saw a blah design 5-piece set at Williams Sonoma for $90!} and this silverware has been on my mind so much lately, I've decided to start a collection. Eventually I hope to have 8-10 sets. So I'll get a few here and there when I have a little extra spending money. Next month is my birthday and I heard from a little birdie that during my birthday month Anthropologie will offer me a discount, so maybe I'll pick up a couple more sets soon!

They don't look that special from a distance but...
They're so beautifully etched!
I'm way too much of a sucker for unique pretty things. Sigh...

But everything else put aside, THIS is the REAL reason why my first Mother's Day was so special.

My pride & joy.

My cheerful.

My lovely.

My Eisley. What a wonderful first Mother's Day.

Happy {late} Mother's Day to Mom, Great Grandma Erwin, Great Granda Sander, Grandma Holly, Adrienne, and Bea! I love you guys!

EISLEY

A few facts.

The name Eisley means "cheerful".

It is an Americanized version of the Swiss surname "Eisele".

In Star Wars, Mos Eisley is a spaceport town.

Eisley is currently ranked #4286 in popular girl's names.

Eisley is pronounced "eyes-lee". Not "ice-lee", or "ees-lee".

{ A New Friend }

Today my little family of three went to see our friends who just made the transition from two to three as well.

Mara was born May 1 and was 8 lbs 4 oz (which is hard to believe - that little peanut is bigger than our Eisley was? Eisley must have been tiny!... but I don't remember anymore!) and 20.5 inches. Mom, Dad, and Baby Mara are all doing just great, although they did deal with a long wait and long labor for this precious girl. She's here now and that is what matters.

She's beautiful. How wonderful it is to have her here!

IF...

If you were to ask me how it feels to have a store owner excitedly buy a couple of my paper garlands at A Paris Street Market I would say,
"It feels great!"

If you were to ask me how it feels to see my handcrafted paper garlands in the store window at Park Meadow's Mall the very next day I would say, " ".

Yes. I'm speechless.

I just ended up today at the mall on a total whim and decided to go get a quick glance at the store - Cali & Mo's - of the owner's I met yesterday. I'd been there before and it's an adorable boutique. If you like my stuff even just a little bit, you'll LOVE this shop. I love it even more now ;-)

Market pics are below.

A Paris Street Market

Yesterday was A Paris Street Market event for my business, Lark & Lola! I've been crafting my little tail off (my hands and fingers are raw and sore), staying up until the wee hours of the morning, desperately trying to get ready for this show. The whole last couple weeks I've been a bundle of nerves with tons of self doubting and worries that I wouldn't be able to pull this off...but...

It went great!
I plan on trying to have twice as much stuff for the next show. Other vendors told me the weather was really affecting the crowd {that usually by 8am each booth would be packed} but despite that I'm still *VERY* happy with the outcome.

It was threatening to rain all day which would have been bad as so many of my items are paper products. Luckily, there wasn't a drop until we were packing up for the day. How's that for luck?

It was so wonderful {especially after all the weeks of self doubt} to hear people say such nice things about the crafts that I love so much. Each time I was surprised a little bit to hear that someone else liked it too. It's given me a lot more confidence in myself and my work.

My garlands were very popular, and a few people want custom orders.

My calendar blocks were something I made last minute - just barely finding the time. I only made three but now I wish I'd made more because all three sold within the first hour!

By the end of the day, my booth was pretty picked over. Now I'll be much more prepared for next show, I'll know what to expect.


I really owe special thanks to:

My mom and dad, who got up really early to come help us out, take care of Eisley, and were there to support me all day.
Bea, for sticking around to help clean up even though you didn't have to.
Holly & Jerry for lending us table and the use of their truck, I definitely couldn't have pulled this off without you.
Justin, most of all, for putting up with my super late nights, taking care of Eisley with almost every spare second you've had in the last month, and supporting my dream to do A Paris Street Market!

I loved it.