Thrifty Thursday - Edmonds Senior Center

As I may have mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE shopping in thrift stores! My sweetie and I have so much fun just taking an entire day and driving from store to store, quickly filling up our backseat with tons of thrifty goodness! Several weeks ago, we decided to check out some brand new (to us) stores and started with one in Edmonds. It is located right at the ferry dock, and is attached to the Edmonds Senior Center.

We had heard marvelous things about this place, and let me tell you, we were not disappointed! When we first walked in, I was immediately drawn to the coolest spice rack and snapped it up for a mere $5. Then, my eyes fell onto this bee-utiful wooden cabinet, about 18 inches tall, with two doors. The doors have arched cut-outs that are backed with a metal screen so you can have sneak peeks of whatever goodies you stick in there. I figured it would probably be AT LEAST $10 or so, considering there was no damage and it was a pretty solid piece of wonderfulness. I looked at the price tag, already convincing myself it would be too much to spend on a single item (this was only our first stop after all) and practically peed myself when I saw it was.............. TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS! I actually had to have M repeat it, I was in such shock! So I immediately snapped it up, already thinking I had found the golden ticket for the day. 

We wandered around towards the back, with the dishes and breakables, and this is what I saw:

The most adorable little ceramic containers! They were perfect for our kitchen and I knew I had to have them. When I showed them to Mik, he said, "What is 'majoranna'?" We laughed so hard I almost dropped everything. How amazing are these delightful little creatures?? And the funniest part is that Mik's mom has a cat named Anna, so we couldn't wait to tell her about the "majoranna" that we found!

For some reason, there were 2 paprikas, and only 1 majoranna. I decided I only needed 1 paprika and left the other for some other lucky soul. :)

I quickly decided that I should probably set all of my treasures down at the counter so that I could keep looking (we had only been in there for about 10 minutes by this point) and not risk dropping everything in my excitement.

I looked over the rest of the dishes, and rounded the corner. Immediately, I saw a sign for mason jars, $1. I thought, "Score!" I am always on the lookout for cool jars right now, as I am re-vamping my "moon hut" (I promise, I will explain this term soon!) or in other words, studio. I am wanting to store all of my ribbon bits in the jars so I can see all the pretty, pretty colors. Anyhoo, I started picking out some jars and that is when I saw IT... the most perfectest, blue Ball mason jar! (It even says it's perfect!)

I may have squealed a bit, and again, prepared myself to see a high sticker price. I picked it up, saw no sticker, and realized that this beauty was SUPPOSED to be in the dollar section! Holy crapballs I couldn't believe it! I held onto it for dear life, still trying to juggle all of the other jars I wanted. M told me to just go set them down before I hurt myself, but I was terrified of putting this little guy down in case someone realized the treasure I had found! I realized it was illogical and probably dangerous to keep balancing all of these things in my teeny hands, so I reluctantly set it down with the rest of our stuff (as hidden as I could among everything else I had put up there).

Needless to say, I found some pretty amazing jars on those shelves!

Look at the adorable flower printed on that one on the right! I believe it says "wild rose" underneath the flower. The one in the front, with the handle, has a perforated lid on it for shakin' stuff! It shall be full of glitter in no time!

I walked out of that store with about 4 paper grocery bags full of amazing goodies. I was so incredibly excited, and we had just started!!

I believe we went to 4 or 5 thrift stores, and 2 un-freaking-believable antique malls I never knew existed. It was the best day!

I am always looking for more awesome thrift stores to go to, what are some of your favorites? What kind of treasures have you found?

PS - I am planning on making this a regular feature, although it may not always be weekly. I do already have the next two Thursdays planned out though! :)

Open For Business

Happy Hump Day y'all!

I thought I would take this opportunity to open the doors of my Etsy shop, KaeleighBee, and let you take a peek around! 

Back in October I closed my first shop and opened up KaeleighBee. I had changed up my name and branding and wanted to revitalize my online presence too. I enlisted the help of my fantastically talented friend to create my new logo, and she created the most amazing Etsy banner I have ever seen in my life!

Admittedly, the pickings are kind of slim right now in my little shop, hence one of my monthly goals! However, I would love to tell you a little bit about what I do!

This creative journey started about 8 years ago with greeting cards and a small set of wedding invitations for my mom. I still love making cards, especially since I can usually bust out a bunch at a time! I have definitely evolved since then and started creating several other items that I have completely fallen in love with.

One of these items is spiral bound journals. You can see a sneaky peek of one them here. (It's the larger one in the back, the small guy is my kick-ass planner blogged about here) I make 2 different sizes, 8 1/2" x 11" and the pocket size, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Super cute, and perfect for purses!

I have made several other odds and ends, here and there (including celebration card boxes), but this brings me to my absolute FAVORITE extension of my creativity EVER!

KESHIS!!

Keshis are my interpretation on traditional Japanese Kokeshi dolls; an artsy twist on an ancient tradition. Each one is numbered and initialed, and when she is ready, she tells me her name! :) As I create each one, their individual personalities come out and they start to dictate how they are going to be finished. Some are more adamant than others but they always bring a smile to my face!

To see all of my past and present girls, check this out!

As I start to add new things into my shop I will post periodic updates so you can see what I've got up my sleeve!

Thanks for checking out my shop, and I hope you see something you like!

Nice to Meet Ya!

My happy place: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

In school, and even in training classes at work, there was always an "ice-breaker" activity at the very beginning. That way, everyone could get to know each other a little better, and we could feel a little more comfortable in this brand new environment. At least, that was the idea. :)

I figured I would do something similar, and create an ice-breaker activity to introduce myself to you and (hopefully) get to know all of you a little better as well! I scoured the interwebs for a list of fun questions to answer, but if you can think of any others, please feel free to leave them in the comments below! Ok, here we go y'all!

• Who is your favorite person in the whole wide world? My sweetie!! He is the only person in the whole world who I feel like I can be 100% myself with, 100% of the time. He is funny, sweet, thoughtful, smart, handsome, and I never get tired of being with him. :)
• What was the first concert you attended? If given a chance, would you attend the same band’s concert today? The first concert I was crazy excited about was *NSYNC! I went when I was in 6th grade with my best friend at the time, and it was the greatest experience of my life! (up until that point anyway lol) I have to say, I probably would go see them today if they had a reunion tour!
•  Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears. Bees, needles, dark water. To be honest, I don't know how these things became fears, but hot damn are they ever scary to me! With bees, the second I hear any sort of buzzing, I become completely irrational and ridiculous. I will run and lock myself in a room or the house, or wherever I can to get away from it! With needles, I will get physically ill whenever I can see them in use. Like, light-headed, clammy, headache, tunnel vision, and on one particularly bad experience, I up-chucked in the parking lot of the hospital! Not fun!! Although, I love getting tattoos... weird... And last but not least, I am terrified of dark water, like when it is so deep you can't see the bottom. Or even if it is not very deep but I just can't see what is in the water. I start to get panicky just imagining what may be swimming around in there, ready to eat me or drag me down into the depths as it's mer-slave!
•  What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now? My love, blogging, creating, sleeping, and (oddly enough) all of the little projects going on at work! 
•  What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced? I feel like I have led a pretty charmed life, and thankfully nothing truly traumatic has happened (knock on wood), but I would have to say that one of the hardest things I have experienced was when my dog bit my hand, broke it, and we had to put him down. On top of the physical pain of the injury, I had to go through the agonizing decision to put him down and all of the guilt that goes along with that. I still have little flashbacks every once in a while, and I just thank him for everything he did for me during the brief time he was in my life. Love you Pleth!
•  What is your dream job? My DREAM job would be to blog and create art every day and make boatloads of money doing it! But honestly, property management is a pretty great alternative for now!
•  Describe 5 weaknesses you have. Motivation, setting boundaries, saying no, saving money, procrastination
•  Describe 5 strengths you have. Intelligence, creativity, intuition, empathy, positive attitude
•  What is the thing you most wish you were great at? Honestly, I would have to say sticking with plans to accomplish goals that I have. I have a tendency to start things and then give up if I feel like it is not happening fast enough. Perhaps I should add "impatient" to my list of weaknesses! :)
•  What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive? Being cheated on and stolen from. Now don't get me wrong, I have not had anything to do with this person since I came to grips with what they did, but I had to forgive them so I could move on with my life. And boy, did I ever!! :)
•  If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why? I have two answers to this question. The first answer is Mexico! (hence the photo in this post) I would love to live there because of the weather, the culture, and the beauty. And if I were to live there, it would be in the magical place without rampant drug lords and violence! :) The second place I would like to live is Canada, for the free healthcare! lol
•  If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first? At this point in my life, I am not sure what my answer would be. However, when I was a kid, I wanted to be able to manipulate time, without consequence. That way, I could stop time at the minute I had to get up to go to school, go back to sleep, and then when I woke up, I would start the clock back up and be refreshed and ready to go! I could also use it to finish homework and chores. See why procrastination is one of my weaknesses? :) Aw heck, as an adult this would still be the superpower I would want!
•   What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong? The first thing that comes to mind is the idea (at least in the US) that nudity is synonymous with sexuality, and therefore it must be evil! I feel like we are WAY behind the times with that crap! I think that it contributes to the way that girls, and boys, think about themselves and how they should act. I think it puts unnecessary emphasis on something that should be natural and makes it taboo.
•   What is your favorite part of your body and why? My eyes! They are unnaturally large, but the greatest green color! And they provide a fantastic canvas for fun eye make-up! :)
•   What do you think people misunderstand most about you? That my shy and quiet demeanor in social situations means I am bitchy. :) I am not trying to be! I am just usually very uncomfortable!

Phew! This was kind of fun! I felt like I was getting a little wordy there, but hopefully you didn't lose interest! :)

How would YOU answer these questions? Do you have other questions you would like to ask me? 

My Monthly.... Goals: February

So, as the title may suggest, I am hoping to make this a monthly feature. Something to help keep me on track and help me to accomplish the things I really want to do! Just putting it out there like this will make me more accountable, which for me is important! :)

• Get blog up & running! Ok, ok, I swear, I am not trying to cheat and say, "Oh yay! I can check one off already!" This was a legitimate goal that I set for myself a couple of weeks ago, giving myself the deadline of February 1st... which I just so happened to meet! Score one for Kaeleigh!
• Finish commissioned Keshi! I had a special order come in and I really need to finish it! I know that the person who placed that order is reading this, so, here you go!! :) That whole being held accountable thing, yea... if left to my own devices sometimes I feel like very little would get done! I'm just so content most of the time... time to break free from the complacency! 
• Pay off surgeon bill! This February goal will put me right on target for completing one of my 2013 goals, and thanks to a pretty sweet tax return, I WILL be checking this off my list in just a few days!
• Update Etsy shop with 15 new listings! This isn't as daunting as it sounds, I have all of the items photographed and ready to go. It is now just a matter of sitting down at the computer for a few hours and listing them all! (Ok, it is still a little daunting!)
• Submit app for November show! As I mentioned in this post, I will be (hopefully!) a repeat vendor at a holiday bazaar I was in last year: the My Friends & More Holiday Bazaar held locally in Bothell. I had such a blast, and made some really great connections with people who bought many of my Keshis, journals, and cards. It was the perfect venue, and I am looking to do more just like it this year. I received the application in my email a few days ago and I want to send it off before the month ends!

I think this is it for February, so we will see how I do! :) I am feeling good! 

Ironically, as I close out this post, "Feelin' Good" (as performed by Pussycat Dolls) is playing on my iTunes! A sign, perhaps? :)

New Year's Goals

I know what you are thinking.... a post about New Year's Goals, a whole month into 2013? Get with the program lady!! :)

But I can assure you, I have had these goals in place since the beginning of the year, I just didn't have a public outlet for them yet. So, now that I have that, I would like to share with all of you my goals for the year of 2013.

• Get Healthy! This goal not only encompasses my strong desire to lose weight (by creating a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise), but to also do things for my health that I have been avoiding for my whole adult life. This includes things such as going to the doctor for a simple check-up. I am a complete wimp when it comes to anything having to do with doctors, so I do my best to avoid them at all costs. But, I realized I need to grow up and just get a freaking check up! That way, I can have a base-line and work from there to feel and look the best I can.
• Participate in AT LEAST 3 craft shows! Last year, I hopped back in the saddle and was part of 2 local craft shows. One was a pretty resounding failure, money wise, and the other was much more successful! I do have to say though, I do not regret participating in the summer show because I met some really great people who have helped open glorious doors I never knew existed! I learned a lot from my experiences last year, and I want to use what I learned and take part in at least 3 shows that will be appropriate venues for my art. One of the 3 will be the holiday show (the success) I was in last year, so I am looking to add 2 new ones to my repertoire! 
• Write, market, and sell my first eBook! This one is kind of an exciting one that I have been thinking about for some time. The first step is going to be to learn how to format the book to be sold in the electronic form, and then I will be on my way! I don't want to give away anything right now, but I do have a fun topic in mind. Stay tuned for more info at a later date. ;)
• Completely pay off debt! I have had a black cloud of debt floating over me for several years now, and I am plum-tired of it! I am sure I am not alone in that feeling, and I am finally in a place where I really think I can do something about it. Most of it is medical bills that I incurred from a dog bite/broken hand sitch a couple of years ago, 2 freakin' weeks before my fantastic medical benefits kicked in! So, needless to say, it created a burden I couldn't afford back then. My mini-goal with this one is to have this completed by the end of March!
• Begin preparing for 1st home purchase! This goal can really only be achieved if the one before this is crossed off, so they kind of go hand-in-hand. Mik and I aren't necessarily looking to actually PURCHASE something this year, but we want to put a plan in motion! This includes repairing and re-building our credit, and of course socking some money away!
• Move towards promotion at work! This one is not 100% in my control I suppose, but I plan on taking any and all training that will prepare for the responsibilities of being a community manager. I also want to continue to show initiative in my current position and continue to make a name for myself, without looking like a kiss-ass! :)
• Go live with KaeleighBee blog! Ok, so obviously this one can now be checked off, but I swear, this was on my list of goals from Jan 1st!
• Give attention to Etsy shop! I have had an Etsy shop for a number of years, but it was always just kind of chilling there in the background. At the end of the year last year, I actually closed the virtual doors of my first shop, and opened KaeleighBee. I had done a re-vamp on my name and branding and wanted to make sure my online presence matched. This year, I want to make sure I am making a conscious effort to update the shop and keep it stocked and fresh! I would like for the world to experience a little of the joy that I do when I create!

Well, that is it for now I suppose! We still have 11 months of what I feel will be an exciting year for all, so there is plenty of time to accomplish, edit, and add to this list!

What are some of YOUR goals for this year? Let's DREAM BIG together!

Super Bowl Sunday!

As I have mentioned on my "About Me" page, I am an avid football fan. And as such a fan, today is THE day! That's right folks... Super Bowl XLVII! Now, while I feel like the Seahawks were robbed of the opportunity to play in this wondrous game this year due to a series of ridiculous play-calling, I am still looking forward to the big game in the Big Easy!

I really don't have too much emotional attachment to either team, however, I am putting my cheers behind the Ravens! There are several reasons why this is going to be my pick, the biggest one being that the 49ers are our biggest divisional rival and I want to see them go DOWN! Ahem... anyhoo, I also would like to see a Raven victory so they can send the retiring Ray Lewis off in style. Because who doesn't love a little touchy-feely moment in football? :)

The loyalties will be divided in our house, which should make for an interesting game-watching experience!

Either way it shakes out, it should be a good game. As always, it will be bittersweet. The final whistle as the clock hits 0:00 in the 4th quarter not only signals the end of the game, but also the end of another NFL season. As I shed a tear or two at that moment, I will be marking that glorious date in August, a whole 6 lame, football-free months from now, when the pre-season starts! It will be then that I can watch my Hawks pick up the momentum they ended this season with and carry it all the way to Super Bowl XLVIII!

Sea-HAWKS!!

Ok, my football freak-out is over! :) I hope that you, whether you celebrate the game or not, have a "Super" Sunday!

Caturday!!

In honor of Caturday (which at the time of my writing this, there are exactly 65 minutes left of, phew!) and in the interest of continuing this whole, introducing myself to a greater audience thing, I thought I would give you a short bio on our 3 cute and cuddly kitties!

First up, Romeo!!

AKA BeemBeem, Beemula, Romey, Beems

This little rascal was adopted by my mom and I, along with his sister, almost 14 years ago. (Holy smokes mom, can you believe it has been that long?!) Sadly, we lost his sister several years ago, but he is still going strong! He has the tiniest little meow, and he is not a small cat! But he is one of the most loving cats; always wants to be touched. He even loves to have the little mats cut out of his fur. Since he is getting older, he doesn't groom himself as much so we have to help out. You would think it was the most amazing thing in the world!

And now, we have Aurora!

AKA Rora, Rorlaley, B**chface Rora (for when she is especially rude! haha), Baby Girl

Wow... what can I say about this crazy girl? Lol... I do have to say, she is one of the only good things to come out of a bad past relationship! I have had her since she was a TEENY kitten, probably too young to even be away from her momma, and she is definitely a mommy's girl! In fact, she refused to let M even get near her, let alone touch her, for many months. We even were convinced she was trying to "get rid of him" when he went out into the kitchen and almost ran face-first into the open cabinet door. Mind you, this cabinet was NOT at ground level... and then to top it off, there was a roll of paper towels, garbage bags, and lighter fluid on the ground... these things had been knocked out of the cabinet, all from different shelves! And little Rora was sitting on top of the cabinet just staring at him. Creepy!! :D But she is quite sweet if she likes you. Every day she will reeeeaaaach her paws up, like a little kid when they want to be held, and when I pick her up she will give me a hug and a kiss. And then she promptly runs away because apparently my breath REEKS! She is certainly a character!

And last, but ABSOLUTELY not least, Flora!

AKA Baby Flora, FloraBaby, FloFloBaby

Flora is the newest, and youngest, member of our family. She is truly an angel sent from heaven. She was literally waiting for me outside my office one night, about 3 weeks or so after we had to put our doggie down 2 years ago. She followed me home (I work for a property management company and live at one of our properties), came inside, and has never left! By the way, this picture is taken of her sleeping under our covers, with her head on daddy's pillow which is arguably one of her favorite places to be. She is truly a blessing... she helped us with our grief over the loss of our pup, and she has never stopped showing her appreciation for bringing her in from the cold. And she is also crazy spoiled by her daddy... and she knows it! :)

I am sure this will not be the last time I write about these sweeties, and in honor of Caturday, go snuggle YOUR kitty!

See ya on the flipside!