Etsy Lust List : Semi-Fall Edition

It’s that time again! Here are some of the things I’ve added to my Etsy favorites lately.
Since the change of season is thisclose, I decided to keep this Autumn-centric.
I so wish I had money. I make too many lust lists and don’t own a thing.

This upcycled leather necklace from Gwaen’s Handmade Goods is too cool. For starters, it’s a beautiful, interesting piece that would make even the plainest of white tees super cool. But add in the fact that it’s from little scraps of leather being put to use instead of wasted, and it gets that much cooler. On the site, the colors are described as fruity. But I see fall foliage, the early stages of the seasonal change.
I also see a nod to this…love it or hate it, you can’t deny it’s cool.

I have this issue where, no matter how small I try to make my purse, I always end up filling it to the gills and wearing it out. A clutch has pretty much always been out of the question for me. But the more weddings and showers and little events I have to go to, I wish I had something sweet and simple to throw a bit of cash, my phone, and some lip gloss in. Those are the occasions that carrying a large purse is kind of embarrassing. This is a simple linen clutch from Sassy Stitches by Lori, but it’s the simplicity that makes it easy to mix with anything. And I love mustard yellow. It’s a great color year round, but it pops with all the browns and reds we’ll see this fall.

The neutral colors of these bows make them perfect for this time of year, but they also give me a back-to-school vibe. Sometimes bows and barrettes can appear childish, but mixed with a cute high bun or a nice twist of the bangs, it can be grown-up-ified. If the neutrals aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other colors to choose from on Loft Full of Goodies.

These little soaps (yes, SOAPS) are just the cutest things. Aubrey Elizabeth Apothecary has a ton of food shaped soaps that look good enough to eat, but I just fell over at the sight of these. Then you read the scent…pumpkin lager inspired. Pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon…
I would want to use them all up but keep them because they are so cute.

And that’s all for this month!

Weekend

Too fast. Too, too fast. I have been going batty lately. Work is on my last nerve. The good thing is, my brain has been stirring up lots of fun ideas, but the bad thing is I am so physically and mentally drained by the end of the work day that I end up sitting in bed watching TV instead of furthering my life or acting on my ideas. I don’t want to be that way anymore! But it’s still fun to be inspired.
I spent a car ride with Brad yesterday explaining some things stirring around in my head and it was so nice to get it off my chest, to have someone to support me in my endeavors, and to even have inspiration despite it all.

From top to bottom…

Rum and Coke in a twirly glass.
Flavored cigars that I didn’t partake in but that look cool.
Toasted Almond coffee and an Apple Orchard doughnut that started my Sunday off right.
Precious baby Niall.
Hand to Finger ratio.

I am SO MAD. I brought my Canon Rebel to take pictures of my cousin’s baby Niall, but I left it in Brad’s trunk and left Brad’s car at my house.
NOT COOL. He’s so cute, though. I’m sure he’s probably a handful sometimes, but he didn’t cry once. He just smiled and slept and enjoyed being held and kissed by everyone around him. Babies rock.

I’m ready to tackle another week, because I have a glorious three-day weekend ahead. Something to look forward to!
Until then, let’s do this guys!!!!

Dinner Last Night: Tuscan Pasta

I don’t know about y’all, but I had an AWFUL week. The last couple days were extremely hard. I know it’s a “short” week, but all the crap caught up fast. To top it off, I have work tomorrow, so my week isn’t over just yet. I sure wish it was. UGH.

Anyway, after everything, I couldn’t wait to make some comfort food and drink some wine. And honestly, pasta is a great comfort food. So easy to make and always delicious. I used this recipe, and it required very little effort.
And I had to get wine.
Wine was necessary.

Have a good weekend, everyone!!!!!!

Recent Reads: Every Day

Every Day by David Levithan is another book I got based on a review by Entertainment Weekly. I don’t always read what they recommend, but the premise of this novel is so…different, to put it lightly. I just had to give it a shot.
I ended up pre-ordering it and anxiously awaiting it’s arrival in the mail.

This is how I ended up describing the book while I was reading it to friends and family:
Okay, so the book’s narrator/hero(ine?) is simply known as A. A has no actual body, no family or friends, and no sex/gender. For 16 years, A (it/he/she/whatever) has woken up every day (HAHA) inside of a different body. Basically, A experiences a “Day in the Life of…” for A’s entire life, the only life A’s ever known, experienced through tall, short, heavy, thin, happy, extremely depressed, gay, straight, transgendered boys and girls, all from the moment of waking to the moment of drifting off (by midnight, or risking the possibility of feeling like being physically ripped from the body of that person).  Though A experiences the daily life of so many different people, and can “access” the memories of the person A becomes to ensure a somewhat normal existence within the day, A has complete control of this person’s body while inside.
A has learned to respect the body, to experience whatever this person’s life is like, and simply move on to the next without getting attached.

However, this book is about what happens when A wakes up in the body of a boy name Justin, who has a girlfriend named Rhiannon.
A is instantly pulled to Rhiannon, attracted, intrigued, and connected. Despite the fact that A can access that Justin and Rhiannon’s relationship is extremely shaky, and Justin has a tendency to be very disrespectful, A is pulled to give Rhiannon a very special day, cutting school and heading to the beach where they talk and cuddle and, inevitably, A falls in love.

Rhiannon, of course, has no idea that someone else has inhabited her boyfriend’s body. She knows he’s acting different, but she just assumes it’s a good day. A is worried, because of the feelings that have grown for her and the fear that Justin will not care for Rhiannon the way A does.
For the first time in 16 years, A finally finds something to live for, for real. Love.
But because A has no real body, no form to call his/her/it’s own, there is no way to have a future with Rhiannon.

That doesn’t stop A from trying, though, and that’s when things get really interesting.

This book requires a lot of explaining, as I just demonstrated, but honestly, it’s not as complicated once you’re reading it. David Levithan made it extremely easy to not only grasp but believe in A’s existence. My explanation sucks. The book absolutely doesn’t.

At the heart of it, I believe the theme of the story is about love and equality.
Levithan made sure that A experienced all kinds of love, all kinds of lives.
This isn’t boy/girl love. It’s boy/boy, girl/girl, and transgendered love.
And because A experiences all of these things, and has seen more than most people do in their lives in one day,
A is accepting of all love, of all religion, of all ways of life and sees no reason why there should be any issues with it.
Yes, A falls in love with Rhiannon while in a boy’s body.
But that doesn’t stop A from loving her inside of a gay man or a straight girl.
Because A is just A. A is everything and nothing, really. A doesn’t know why, so we don’t.
We get to know A’s morals and feelings and thoughts…but that’s all.

I enjoyed this book, but I will say that it left me wanting. I didn’t feel it ended, really.
But maybe it wasn’t supposed to?

I would recommend this book because of it’s strange plotline, it’s easy-to-read, can’t-put-it-down, breeze-right-through goodness.
Plus, it really makes you think about equality and acceptance. And also, to appreciate what we have, to not take things for granted, and to remember to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes before judging.

Spice and Everything Nice

Now that it’s September, I suppose I am ready to fully embrace autumn. I absolutely love fall, it’s a fantastic season with glorious weather and traditions galore. But I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to summer (I guess I’m still not, 100%, and there’s still a bit more left), to late nights on porches, to Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, to cookouts and no need to sweaters or jackets, to sundresses and sandals.
One thing that comes with the beginning of the fall season is PUMPKIN EVERYTHING.

At first, Brad and I were skeptical about drinking/eating anything pumpkin until we got deeper into September. But that quickly changed.
Seriously, do you realize how much pumpkin has popped up? How much more will come in the following weeks?

It starts with pumpkin coffee, which you can find at Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks (I run on Dunkin’.). I had an iced coffee this past weekend and immediately picked up the K-Cups for home. Their pumpkin coffee is to die for.

Then, for us beer lovers, you have all the Oktoberfest and PUMPKIN brews. Maybe beer and pumpkin doesn’t seem appealing, but oh my goodness, you are so wrong. There are many varieties to try, but local NEPA brewery Stegmaier makes a serious contender for the top. It’s inexpensive, which tends to scare people off, but it is yummy, spicy, and the aftertaste is practically pumpkin pie.
With the maltiness of beer, it is such an awesome taste surprise! Don’t miss out on pumpkin beers while you can get your hands on ‘em!

Here’s another Dunkin’ Donuts treat. I picked up a bunch of bagels for my friends and I on Monday and I saw they offered pumpkin cream cheese. There’s no doubt this could easily be made at home (I saw a recipe on Pinterest), but it was an awesome surprise and it was SO DARN GOOD. I wasn’t sure if I’d appreciate it enough to put it on my entire bagel (thus the regular cream cheese on the other half of the bagel), but I’d put this on everything, given the opportunity.

And finally, at the Italian Festival I attended in Scranton on Labor Day, they had a couple different rice pudding stands. I really enjoy rice pudding as it is, but add pumpkin and YUM. YUM. YUM.

I think it’s obvious that pumpkins are kind of the best.

Weekend

It was so nice and so necessary to have this long weekend. I’ve been going kinda crazy at work, just bored and desperate for something new (of course, by the time I get out I lose all motivation to make any changes to my life). So it was really great to have 3 days of complete and total freedom to hang out with friends, sleep in, read my latest book, watch cartoons, drink pumpkin coffee and pumpkin beers, enjoy a garlic festival and an Italian festival, and just live life.

Brad and I splashing in the pool for possibly the last time this year.
Words of truth.
Pumpkin iced coffee and K-Cups for enjoying later.
Delicious, fresh-squeezed lemonade with my boos.
Blue Birch Beer at the Italian Festival.
That time I told Brad I was getting Lauren’s K-Cups out of the car, but actually drove it to their house. Woops.

It was a really great weekend, and there were so many more moments I didn’t get to capture on my phone.
Now it’s back to the grind. But there’s always another weekend, more fun to be had, more precious friend time.

August Photo a Day Challenge Completed

Guys, it’s SEPTEMBER! Apologies for the little hiatus I took last week. I actually had some stuff I wanted to blog about, but I’ve been in this super-lazy, lounge-y mode lately. Last week, I spent a lot of after-work evenings in my sister’s room watching Pretty Little Liars on Netflix. Man, that show is the best kind of guilty pleasure.

Anyway, I’m still enjoying my Labor Day over here (by once again being lazy and lounge-y), so I figured I’d post the results of my
Fat Mum Slim August Photo a Day Challenge! Here’s the list:

Here are my photos:

1. I go crazy if I don’t take a walk outside during my breaks at work.
2. I only had one dollar left in my wallet on that payday…thank God it wouldn’t be that little for long!
3. I made a huge stress in saying that the medallions/medals on that cider look like coins.
4. The couch at Brad and Lou’s is somewhere I sat.
5. I did two photos for logo: The new bottle of Cheer and that cute can of sauce from Sam’s Club.
6. This is my hand writing from a very short story I wrote a couple of years ago.
7. On a Tuesday at 8 o clock, you can usually find me at Dana’s watching TV.
8. I was a little bummed out because I hate wearing my glasses to the gym.
9. My life is just as messy as my room is, which is probably why my life feels so messy.
10. This owl ring was inexpensive and it’s one of my favorites.
11. There’s purple in this multi-colored skirt I almost wore.
12. Stirring my coffee with a spoon.
13. The beautiful sky is something simple that makes me incredibly happy.
14. I love this Hunger Games inspired necklace I have, with the Mockingjay, arrow and “pearl” for Peeta.
15. Maria and I were so ready to hit the road and enjoy an afternoon at the Hometown Auction.
16. Yummy pulled pork for dinner, that’s some great food.
17. Love the faces of the boys on this British show, The Inbetweeners.
18. Artie burrowed himself inside of Maria’s Missoni for Target blanket.
19. Holes in the table, Maria’s feet in the background.
20. Today (that day), I found over 30 mustaches taped to different office supplies around my work space.
21. Cool as a cucumber roll.
22. The road home.
23. A new pair of earrings I bought (and haven’t worn yet!!!).
24. The path to Brad’s doorway.
25. Fresh salsa and chips at La Tolteca.
26. I dreamt in this bed all alone.
27. The bathroom tap.
28. Off the clock and enjoying the freedom.
29. Looking down at one of my favorite shirts of all time, in pretty chevron colors.
30. Scratch off lottery ticket cards…I have a slight addiction.
31. I’m hidden in this picture.

And that’s all! I’ve already begun the September challenge, of course. Can’t believe it. Time really flies. Like I say after every challenge.
Because it’s true!