Long Time, No Blog...

It's been so long since I've last blogged!  Springtime is in full bloom around here and along came with that was the hustle and bustle of outdoor activities, vacation planning, farmer's markets and outdoor festivals.  Fun stuff! Instead of a long winded recap, here are some snapshots from my life lately:

The Pied Paper was featured on another blog, Arthouse.  The author is a graphic designer, and her talent really shows!  Check out this compilation of golden glittery goodness:

image via Arthouse

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week!  Unfortunately, I didn't remember this until Wednesday.  Also unfortunate: between the two girls there are twelve teachers.  So, I stayed up until 5:30am on Thursday night making twelve sets of stationary as gifts for the teachers.  That's 60 cards.  Luckily, I had taken the day off and had taken a four hour nap earlier, so I survived Teacher Appreciation Week 2012.

On Friday, I was at home with Gracie and did our usual running around.  Gracie and I braved Costco.

Gracie, check.  Chik-fil-A nuggets, check.  Milk, check.  Juice, check.  Running errands and eating at the same time.  We're always living on-the-go.  

I did not relish packing my car all by myself.  Or unloading those things into my house!

 But since the weather was perfect, we also fit in a whole lot of doin' nothing.  Life is busy, busy, busy, but soooo good!

Grace wearing her sister's gear and riding her sister's trike.  Guess who she emulates?

Grace has taken to strolling around like a 70-year old man. 

Blog love

The Pied Paper gets another mention on a blog!  Check out Hardly Housewives and enter to win a free set of stationery!

The Pied Paper reopens

A few months ago, I put The Pied Paper on hold, due to my waning enthusiasm for making the cards.  But I was still getting inquiries about custom orders...so I decided to open it back up without marketing the store at all.  To my surprise, orders were still trickling in...and then the other day, someone asked to feature my store on her blog (more to come on that), so I think there is a demand out there.  I don't necessarily have any more energy than I did a few months ago, but hopefully that will change.  To mark my reopening, I've added a few more designs, some of which are shown here--what do you think?

I got blogged about!

Oh, It's Just Perfect!

I am so swamped right now and can't write more, but check out this shout out to The Pied Paper!

Gracie's Sick

It's been a really exhausting week since Grace has been suffering from a double ear infection and I've been organizing a yard sale for my neighborhood. It's heartbreaking to see your baby whimpering and sad, when she's usually such a happy girl. There have been some highlights however; Sophie and I had some quality time getting our pedicures and I had a chance to work on some new products for The Pied Paper. Here are a couple of snapshots I managed to get in this week.

Here's a memory that I want to keep forever: Gracie peeking at us from the hole in her highchair.

You can tell she's sick by the bags under her eyes and the weight she's lost.

Sophie really likes the Batman Happymeal toys.

It's an indulgence, but I love sharing this experience with Sophie.

I'm kinda a big deal

So, I was on the local news yesterday.

No, not because of my blog. Not because of my Etsy store. I had two milliseconds on the news because I forced my way into a Liz Crenshaw interview at the mall during my lunch break!

It's Friday, Friday...

...and we did what we usually do on Fridays...run errands! Exciting, right? Well, I still prefer to spend the day running errands with my roly poly over sitting in my grey, soul-sucking cubicle any day!

Grace, Sophie and I piled into the car and drove Sophie to school.

Sophie acting silly in front of her school.

Afterwards, Grace and I had to go buy some supplies for The Pied Paper.

Came home and had some "brunch".  Yogurt with a side of cell phone and lip gloss.  Yummm.

....fast forward eight hours where I was too lazy to take pictures: we did laundry, cleaned up the house a bit, napped, I finally ate lunch at 3pm, went to Whole Foods, picked up Sophie from school, went to Target, came home and made these omelets for dinner (they were so good), and the ended with a great finale to the busy day:

Strawberries with fresh whipped cream!!

I'm pooped.  Grace is in bed now and all I want to do is curl up with my nook and immerse myself into my Dennis Lehane book.  It's time for "me time"!

Less than thrilled

Grace was less than thrilled to be woken from her slumber in the carseat and dragged into the grocery store yesterday morning. Poor girl...she never gets a chance to rest on the weekend.

Grace being worn by me

p.s. A huge thank you to all my friends who have been so supportive of The Pied Paper since I launched the store yesterday. Your comments on my blog, facebook, and emails have really touched me! Not to mention the 3 orders I've received so far.  You all are giving me inspiration to keep going!

The Pied Paper

I'm proud to announce the official opening of my very first Etsy store, The Pied Paper!

The Pied Paper will sell handmade paper goods, with a specialty in hand lined envelopes and custom notecards. Over the next few weeks, I will be adding more items for sale.

This store is a creative outlet for me, more than anything. I've been making my own stationery for years (many of my family and friends reading this blog right now have been on the receiving end of my homemade Christmas cards and notes). Well, unfortunately the era of the handwritten note is dwindling and I had more stationery than I could use. Not to mention more ideas! During some stressful times at work, or while taking care of the girls, I would imagine some of the combinations of envelopes and cards you will now see in my Etsy shop. I hope that my store reaches out to others who still love using snail mail, like me.

In celebration of my grand opening, I'm going to be offering a 20% discount on everything at The Pied Paper through the end of April! Simply enter the code "domesticnotions" at checkout. Enjoy!