Top 5 Friday: Etsy Lust

Five Things I Covet on Etsy Right now:





























3 Bare Chipboard Rectangle Frames, sold by StudioCeeCee

I love journaling! It's my favorite part of scrapbooking, the whole "writing about the experience." The only think I love more is finding fancy and creative ways to journal. And what's better than decorate-and-embellish-yourself journaling frames?
Okay, this was supposed to be just a post about what I want from Etsy, but it might become a post about what I bought from Etsy...













Floral Kitchen Tea Tin, sold by Kitchenlily

This is a bit of a nonsequetur...When I was growing up back in Florida, my mom had this cookie jar...it was absolutely hideous. I think it was ceramic (I suspect she or my grandmother actually may have made it in a ceramics class) and the majority of it was this speckled taupe pseudo-stone-looking color. It had a brown lid, and an interesting little scene painted on the front of it. It looked like a farm in the middle of winter, with some bare trees in the background, and some men leading some horses and a bobsled, maybe, out of a barn. Have I mentioned how hideous it was?

God, I miss that cookie jar. Mum kept oreos in there, and an occasional chocolate chip cookie. I always loved looking at that jar, because it reminded me of what I believed farm life must have been like a bunch of years ago, in a place where there actually were seasons.

I was as weird as a child as I am as an adult. I don't know what happened to that hideous jar, but lord, I want it. I want the feelings and imaginings it evoked in my mind.

I think I want the oreos, too.













Rainbow Prism Suncatcher, Sold by Razzle Bedazzle

Okay, so I don't actually want this...but I want to MAKE it. And I think I can--how cool is that???













Stack of old books hand painted necklace, sold by HeatherKent.

Okay, I can't make this one; I concede defeat. Which makes me lust for it all the more!


















Scrabble tile pendant, batman symbol, sold by Thetrendyturtle.

It's official. WANT. Where's my wallet?


Aurgh. This is NOT a Top 5 Friday I will be repeating! Excuse me while I purchase stock in Etsy.

Five on Friday: The Freaky Fabulous Life of an Un-California girl (Along With Thoughts on Thursday: Living the Life of Someone Else's Dreams)

A little bit of photography detailing the freaky and fabulous things that can be found in the deserts of Southern California.

The tram that takes you from the 100-degree desert to the 65-degree mountaintop in 15 minutes:














The odd things people think it's acceptable do to their undersized dogs:














(This poor little guy does not belong to me, by the way)



The view where I work:

















The sun-drenched beach trips:




















The patriotic Drag Queen Shows:















So, early Thursday morning (like, early early) I had one of my occasional epiphanies.

Himself and I have this dream...not too long ago, we hatched this plan to someday (like, NO TIME soon) move to Asheville, NC. And it's a thought that's been taking root ever since, gaining nourishment from our bad days, our stressful days, my homesickness, Himself's desire for change. We're going to start looking at property there next year.

Already, I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the very far-off day in which we can make that transition. The latest preparations took the form of me doing a blogger search by location, looking for interesting bloggers who live in Asheville.

In my typical Gemini manner, I got fairly distracted very quickly. The blogs that I found weren't what I was looking for; didn't quite capture the fabulousness that must be felt when living in a place like Asheville, NC. Holy crap! I thought. These people live in Asheville, North Carolina, one of the most awesome places on Earth, and they can't even really depict their fabulous life in their blog. I could cheerfully strangle them right now.

And then it hit me--brutally, suddenly, and deservedly, as it usually does. I somehow had a moment of insight beyond my own little life and briefly wondered if somewhere in this country, some young girl is sitting here, daydreaming about a future fabulous life in Palm Springs, searching for blogs which really capture the life that she wants to have some day.

And here I am, epically failing to fulfill her desire.

So, can't promise anything, but Sassy's going to try to inject a little bit of Palm Springs funk into her blogging style. Can't hurt, right?

Oh! Bonus Shot:

The Liberal Pet Policies in Public Buildings:

Five on Friday: A Book Maven's List of Summer Reads

This week I can't really say "tgif" because it's my turn to work the Saturday shift. But that's okay, because I'm not stuck in a job where I'm counting down the minutes until the weekend.

And at least I have weekends, usually. In my last job--which was also my first official librarian gig--I didn't have weekends. I had days off: Sundays and Wednesdays. Absolutely brutal, and not exactly inducement for exploring the Southern California region.

But I digress.

It's been a fairly busy and productive week, all things considered, except in one very important area: reading. I didn't finish any books this week, nor did I make too much headway in Life Would Be Perfect if I Lived in This House or The Dead Travel Fast. A cardinal offense for a librarian! So, to begin atonement, I present this week's Five on Friday: A Librarian's Summer Reading List

The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
It's non-fiction, which is a weak point of mine. I feel compelled to pause every 30 seconds and take notes, a most disturbing and lingering habit from college. But this has a certain memoir-feel to it; combine with that the distinct flavor of self-help and the fact that there's a rather intense blog about it and it's very orderly, and oh yes, the cover is a lovely shade of blue (librarians' collection development secret revealed!) and I give up, it's going to be the first book in the book group that I will establish this summer!
(Note to self: Establish book group this summer).

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron
My eldest sister Thing One and I will both be reading this book and the accompanying workbook this summer. She's a frustrated artist, and I am a deeply intimidated artist-wannabe, and again, the self-help nature, combined with the planned lesson format (and did I mention there's a workbook?) make this a deeply appealing read for a very Gemini person.
We'll be starting it on the Summer Solstice.


Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay.
Okay, so this one actually is assigned reading. The Library's book group invited me to lead a discussion on Atonement last year, and I didn't suck! I didn't suck so much that they invited me back this year to lead the discussion group on this WWII historical. Um, yes, please? Book group is in August, so I've got a wee bit of time to read this and work up another not-sucking discussion.


The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Confession time: I never read this. Come on, High School English could only cover so many books! And anyway, how many of you have read Bleak House AND enjoyed it? So there. I kind of intensely dislike Salinger and suspect that he was a very wily sexual predator. But what the heck, I'll read his stinkin' book. I'm a librarian, after all. I'll rise above. And possibly grumble a little as I'm rising.


The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
We're all about the positive around this here blog, so this is a good one to hitch on to. Randy Pausch wrote this little gem--based on his final lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", delivered at Carnegie Mellon University as he was dying of pancreatic cancer. We're also all about the tear-jerking around this here blog, too, apparently. I've heard a lot about this book, and figure it's a nice way to round off the reading list.



Of course, I'll read other stuff, but these five are the primary goals for the summer.

What's on your list?

Top 5 Friday

5 Things I Will Do Before the Honeymoon Vacation Ends:

1. Try to turn the Craft Studio (Himself calls it the "Crap Room") into an organized, visually appealing space

2. Call Deshka, Kristin, Sister, Eric, Mum, the grandparents, and LoPrete; write my Soldier

3. Order wedding prints

4. Make some yummy dessert with my Kitchenaid Mixer (thanks, step-mother-in-law)(dude, I have in-laws?!?!)

5. Plan a dinner menu for the week ahead.

And...the feel good-picture of the day, which totally captures my mood:

"& i'm on my way to believing..." by Kelseyela, found here.