apples and caves

Last weekend was our first weekend home (and also alone) in months. We travel out of town every week for about 2-3 days so we really enjoyed being able to just relax.

The weather was just perfect and we started our day out by going to Appleberry Farm to pick apples and drink cider. We also had apple cider brats, and if you know me you know that I will not touch a brat EVER...except for this day. They were secretly tasty.

After apple picking we went to Cave of the Mounds in Blue Mounds, WI. Have I ever told you how much I love WI? Anyway...my mom gave us a gift certificate to the Cave for Christmas when she found out we were moving here. It was the perfect gift! We want to go again.

What's new with you guys? Not a lot here, mostly just working. I'm really happy with my new job (more on that later) and I'm going to be ending my other job soonish.

Lately I've been into fashion...ummm, maybe too into it? I have a new inspiration folder just for looks that I love sitting on my desktop. I guess it's because it's something I can have here and now whereas when I save photos of interiors (i have a lot of those...) I have to just wait till we have a house till they come in handy. Anyway, I'm having fun with it all but now I'm addicted to clothes. And shoes. Luckily we have some great thrift shops around and I am good at knowing when to stop. Whew.

++++++

Oh it's been forever, hasn't it? That always seems to happen.
I just need to start documenting more, but there are only so
many hours in a day and so many days in a week...

Our weekends have been filled with trips for about the past
4-5 months. We've literally left town 16 out of the last 18
weekends! It keeps things interesting, though. And definitely
makes the months move by rather quickly.

This weekend we're off to a hotel to celebrate a friend's
birthday. Next weekend we're off to hang out with my
best friend and her husband.
They moved back "home" (where I'm from) a couple
days after we moved to Madison. A bummer, yes, but we
get together about once a month which is nice. The last
few times we've hung out with them, another one of my old
friends was there with her boyfriend and will be there this
time as well...I can't wait!

I'm sure the weekends to follow will have something in store as well.

We're going to Minnesota to see this guy soon.
(saying that i'm excited about this would be an understatement)
We saw him last November and it was excellent.

So enough about what's going to be happening and onto what
has been happening.

{more sun is seeping into the living room as each day passes}

I started my new job a couple weeks ago and it's going really well.

When we moved here, I was so excited about being self
sufficient, only relying on the money I made from Etsy sales
and consignment shops.

It was fun for awhile. But then it started to be a drag.
It became a "must do" rather than a "want to do".
Now that I'm working at 2 jobs, creating is becoming fun
again & it's something I look forward to rather than dread.
It's more exciting when I make a sale now, knowing
that the money can be used for something I want rather
than something I need. And if you know me, you know
that there is a lot of stuff that I want.

So I guess that's all for now. I work at 1:30 today so I
have to get a few things done before heading out.
Talk to you all soon, sorry for such a boring post but
I am hoping that things get back to normal and that
I post as much as I used to once my schedule balances out.
I used to post every day before heading out to work.
But then since I stopped having a consistent job, I
stopped having a (semi) consistent blog.
We'll see what happens.

sometimes things don't need titles

My parents and I went to the 127 corridor a couple weeks ago.

We had hoped to find TONS of stuff but that wasn't the case.

I still found a few cool things, though, and I'm quite happy with my purchases.

See this flickr photo for more info about everything!

Today I went on a picnic to Marshall Park in Madison, WI.

Summer is almost over already and I can hardly believe it.

I love fall, so it's not a huge deal, but fall doesn't last long and then we're knee deep in snow and slush for months and months.

But rather than thinking about that, I think I'll share some good news instead.

(No mom, I'm not pregnant.)

I got a job at a pretty great company but I feel weird saying what company it is so I'm going to keep quiet about it for now.

It's only seasonal, but there are usually opportunities to get in full time.

I start on September second.

I'm excited about getting to dress nice and not feeling awkward about doing so. I can't even get myself to dress nice when we go out...I always change into "Erin clothes" 2 seconds before we leave. I'm a jeans and t shirt girl for life, I think, no matter what I try. That's okay though because it's comfy.

hello

back from our camping trip.

i didn't get too many photos...i never do.

more to come in a few days.

5

Yesterday marked 5 wonderful years for us.

To celebrate, we went downtown.

{The Old Fashioned}
For pre-concert drinks
And intermission shots

{Concert on the Square}

What would a celebration be without champagne?
{bad pour}

{card made by shona. it was perfect}

{after a few drinks}
Leaving for our camping trip tomorrow.
See you soon.

Hello

Oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast today.

My new favorite.

Today I'm going for a morning stroll and then working on Yellow Canoe stuff.

After that I'm heading downtown to the art store for some supplies and then coming home to print more bees.

Class tonight.
Swimming tomorrow.
Solo camping trip on Friday.
Out of town to visit friends this weekend.
Working at my paycheck job on Monday and Tuesday.
5 years for Joe and I on Wednesday.
Packing on Thursday...
...for our 8 day camping trip that starts on Friday.
Joes birthday in 2 weeks.
And then July is pretty much over.

Did you know that we get up to 6 more hours of daylight in the summer than in the winter?

I can't stop thinking that winter will be here soon and that we have to get as many walks and camping trips in as possible.

So far there are 5 camping trips planned, including my solo one.

Can. Not. Wait.

Save the Bees, Please.

What's new?

For me it's this:

My first test print with the first linoleum block I've ever carved.

It will be available soonish, maybe sometime next week, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to honey bee research.

They need all the help they can get right now.

I made the print for my printmaking class. My 4th class is tonight at 6:30.

I have paper to cut (oh, how I miss cutting paper for journals) so I should be on my way.

Hope all is well.

Some Stuff

Yesterday and today Joe was out of town on business, which left me without a car for a bit.

I took a 6 mile walk and this beauty was fanning her wings on the sidewalk.
I went to the Farmer's Market in town and got some strawberries.
So for dinner I had strawberries and cheese and a sourdough English muffin with honey.
The cheese was from a different farmer's market last saturday.
The muffin and honey are both local as well, but I didn't get them from the market.

{my small container garden}

Tonight we are going to a Mallard's game for Joe's company picnic.

Usually I would be gung-ho about free beer, but I have been exercising and eating healthy for a bit now and I don't want a few beers to mess up my hard work! I'm sure it will just be Budweiser or Miller products, anyway, so I wont be missing much. BUT on the off chance that they are serving Capital, I will be all over it.

Capital is my new favorite brand when it comes to beer.
The neat thing is that Capital Brewery is less than a mile away from where we live.
You can go there and sit in their beer garden and listen to live music, and then you carry in your own food, which I think is pretty cool in this day in age.

Anyway, keeping this short because I have a few things to do before we head out...if Joe ever gets home from his business trip. He's in Oshkosh and I don't think he has left yet, meaning he'll be over an hour late! I predicted that...he never leaves work when he is supposed to.

Hope everyone is well.

Happy Birthday to You

Get out your party hats, Creature Comforts is turning ONE!

To celebrate, the lovely Ez has teamed up with a bunch of really great artists for a Birthday Giveaway Extravaganza!

Check it out!

So I don't have a whole lot to write about today but I want to share a few cute things I've found on Etsy recently.

{Yellow}

Lion Ring by Helis
$16
Sparrow and Hawk by Cole Gerst
$15

Wonderful Wisteria Pendant by DesignOptions
$38

Springtime Slipper Socks by CaitiJo
Sold, but they were $12

Moonlight Pods by SweetAnnieJane
$25

I'm very picky with my rings, but when I see one that I like, it must mean that it's really great...I love this lion one.

I already have this print by Cole Gerst, so I would really love to get this other one I mentioned as well.

I've been swooning over the wisteria pendant for so so long now.

The slippers are perfect. I almost bought them and then realized that I was waiting for 2 payments to clear from some buyers in my paypal account, so I figured I'd wait till they cleared. And now they are gone. I hope she makes more.

And since I love all things nature and all things block print, the moonlight pods print really called out to me.

Speaking of block prints, my printmaking class starts tomorrow night! I'm really excited.

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Onto the next...

So I was contacted by Natural Home Magazine a little while back about the shelf that we painted and they wanted to know if they could use it in their publication.

Of course I agreed. But I must say that it was pretty difficult for me to get a copy- I went everywhere in town to find this magazine and nobody sells it. I actually thought they were going to send me a copy since that seems to be the customary thing to do, according to a journalist I know who used to write columns for a popular magazine.

I finally found a copy on Ebay, though, so all is well.

Close up here.

Well that's all. I have to finish cleaning the apartment now- I just wanted to slip out onto the balcony for a bit to enjoy this beautiful day we are having. It's been awhile since we've had weather this nice!

Hair

Okay so this is my new hair that's actually not new anymore...it's grown a little bit since I got it cut.

I wear it a little different every day.

Today I didn't do anything to it since I didn't have to go anywhere.

But this is what it looks like...

Okay that's all. I'm off to bed now!

No new post for the OPC blog today, but I did post over at the Yellow Canoe blog.

I still have to show you my new haircut, though! I chopped all my hair off about 2 weeks ago. Something I've been wanting to do since 8th GRADE. Oh well, that only took 9 years. Short hair is so much better, I am never having long hair again!