Long post today, friends.

Hello! How have you all been? I've been doing great, things are really going well for me. I haven't been around much in the blog world lately. I keep thinking about it, though, so I'm going to get this post up and then go visit a bunch of you.


So, you may remember me mentioning a "surprise" anniversary trip a few times. Well, we went and Joe was VERY surprised and excited about it! He knew we were going somewhere, but didn't know where.

I found out about these cabins in the Smoky Mountains almost 2 years ago. I knew that we HAD to stay in them sometime. I kept them a secret from Joe even though I looked at them online all the time. I finally booked a reservation in March after doing a ton of research, etc.

Our 1 year anniversary was in September, but I booked this trip for October because I really wanted to be down there when the leaves were changing.

So, here is our cabin: It's called "Stardust" and it was rented out by Sugar Maple Cabins.

We were both in love with this chair- it's made of sticks and wood strips, look at the craftsmanship! We'd like to buy 2 the next time we are in the area.

This photo was taken at Cades Cove.

This one was taken on our hike. We went to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail and hiked the Grottos Trail to the waterfall. It was an easy hike, we really enjoyed it. The leaves were just so beautiful everywhere we went. Some were still green, but a lot of them were yellow and red and orange.

About a month before the trip, Shona from La La Dex Press had written about a studio tour that she was part of. I noticed that the dates of the tour were going to fall on the same day we were leaving TN to return home! So I emailed her and told her that we'd be in the area and that I'd love to stop by and meet her! She was super nice and outgoing! I would really like to go down there again sometime to hang out or something. It's about a 10 hour drive from home, though, so it could never be one of those spur of the moment things.

For those of you who don't know, Shona is a bookbinder and printmaker, so we share some common interests. She also seems to like the same music as I do, judging by her blog posts. This is us at Claudia Lee's studio, where she had the show. She (on the left) was wearing the cutest skirt (that she made from a dress) and just look at those boots!

It was a fun day!

Okay, onto the next topic...even though I could talk about TN and our visit with Shona all day...I have some REALLY exciting news. And no, I'm not pregnant. That's what everybody guesses...

We're moving! To Madison, Wisconsin! I am SO ecstatic about this. We have been hoping to move there for awhile now, but didn't think it would happen so soon. Joe got a promotion at work and we couldn't be happier. He decided to tell me in the parking lot of a gas station, what a random place, and it was so hard for me not to jump around and scream "yippee!"...if we had been at home, it would have been a different story. I'd be jumping over the couch and attempting cartwheels, I'm sure. But yes, we're moving. Right now we live in a small town called Salem that doesn't have much going for it. There's nothing to do here, no art exhibitions (well, not really anyway), most of the people aren't really my type (they all think i'm weird for MAKING things, and they don't really take me seriously), and I really just don't like it around here. Madison, on the other hand, is a different story. I can go to school for printmaking (yes!!!), hang out in coffee shops, WALK to my destinations (not possible here), the thrift stores are great, unlike the ones here, a fantastic farmer's market, concerts on the square, boutiques...there is just SO much to do. Joe goes up there on business every once in awhile and I visit him sometimes and I can never get over the sense of community up there. It's just a wonderful place, I can't even express what this means to me. I've been compiling a list of cool things to see and do for some time now, and I'm going to write everything in a moleskine soon. I am sad that we have to leave our families (Joe's family lives about 4 miles away, mine about 16) but we know we'll be down to visit a lot, it's only about a 2 hour trip, at the longest. But overall, I'm really REALLY happy about it. I'll stop blabbing now...Oh, we're probably moving in January :)

Okay, onto the NEXT topic. I made it into the Poppytalk Handmade for November, I'll be adding a button on the blog soon. I'm excited about it! You should all check it out, it starts on the 5th.

Have you heard that Ez from Creature Comforts is putting together a holiday gift guide? She is so kind for doing this! I've got my wares for Yellow Canoe in the guide- yay!

Okay, well I should get a few things done now. I have a couple things to package and ship and emails to catch up on. Blogs to read, too! Happy November, thanks for stopping by!