I AM A SHABBY APPLE FINALIST!!!! VOTE #7

I AM A SHABBY APPLE 'DARE TO DESIGN' FINALIST!
VOTE HERE FOR #7!!!!

Wow. We were on the edge of our seats for two days. Then finally last week the results were in. Brian looked up at me with the computer in his lap and said, "They're in. Do you want to know?"

Me: "No. Let me look."

Me: "No. Just tell me."

Me: "No. I'll just look."

Scroll down....1....no....2....no....3...."Oh it doesn't look good for me." 4...5...6....7...."AHHHHHH!!!!!"

I do the game show dance. (In case you're wondering what that looks like, it involves singing and waving your arms around).

For the next couple hours I am bent over the computer evaluating all the details and comments and just EVERYTHING!

So....if you commented on the "Lawn Frock" or entered the giveaway or have just been a fan of Grosgrain, please, PLEASE go here and leave a comment with your vote for #7. You would make my LIFE!

You can only vote once but that doesn't mean you can't get your friends and family to join in. Right?! RIGHT! My parents are too computer illiterate to figure out how to vote so I need all the help I can get:)

Create a Link if you'd like to share this news!!

Future Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce

I wanted to post this a couple days ago but I've been so sidetracked this week. Did any of you watch the season finale of Mad Men? What did you think?

Here were some of my thoughts....

Bets and Don: I don't think everything will go well with Bets and Francis. For some time I was getting really jaded by Don's constant infidelity. I thought that storyline was getting stale. Then Betty comes in and mixes it up by running away with Henry Francis. I thought I'd be more 'you go Bets'! But actually I find that I'm really annoyed at her as well.

Rodger and Joan: For a long time there was just no good way for these characters to be together. Joan is a 'do-the-right-thing' character. She wouldn't sleep with a married man who she also happens to work for. But now that Rodger divorced this wife and remarried this young girl who Joan despises, there's room for them to reignite their -------------------------------------------------------------------attraction. I look forward to it because I -------------------------------------------------------------------don't like Jane either.

Peggy Olson: I was wondering for a while this season how she was going to climb up the ladder. I feel that the writers have always had a path in mind for her. She's the 1960s career gal who had to scratch her way to the top in a man's world. In the past few episodes she's been really stepped on and that bothered me. I LOVED how she stuck it to Don in the season finale and made him eat some humble pie. Man, was he being an ASS! I think this new change will allow her to take on a higher position of rank. I'd like to see all of them working for her someday.

Pete Campbell: I don't know what will happen to him. But oddly, I like watching his character. He does slimy things but he feels guilt over them and he has the ability to be wounded. I would really like to see some progress on the 'Peggy/Pete' secret baby storyline but I don't see any development in the recent scripts for this to happen. Maybe in two more seasons.


Paul, Harry, Ken and Salvatore: With Paul and Ken still at Sterling Cooper and Harry in the newly formed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, I don't know how their dynamic will be affected. But I think this might leave a little bit of room for Salvatore to find his way back to the show.

Well, that's all I see in my crystal ball. What say you?

Hair Rut

It's been a very rare occasion that I've made a hair decision that I did NOT live to regret.
Soooo.....on that note....I've been thinking of getting high bangs.

Happy Halloween!

Funny.

Have a great weekend!

My two girls were my treat!

Last night we celebrated Trick or Treat. Lily and her friend Kim spent two hours combing the neighborhood for sweeties. Brian, me and Molly tagged along and had a GREAT time. This year for the first time Molly reached that point where she understood the concept of accepting candy. It was absolutely ADORABLE!

As you can see, she was Flopsy from Beatrix Potter's 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit'. I made the costume with a little red cape just like the triplet bunnies wear and a little wicker basket with red gingham lining. I also padded the butt of the costume so her behind looked quite plump....too cute! I'll be featuring it on Grosgrain soon.

Despite my love of making costumes, this year Lily wanted to go out and pick out one from the store. So she and her dad bought a princess costume covered with Disney characters. She was so delighted by it I didn't mind a bit.

Too good to be true?

I've dyed my hair so many times it's horribly dry and damaged. I could probably go weeks without washing it and it would still look like straw. So I've only heard good things about this Keratin Hair Treatment. It's supposed to work better, the more damaged your hair is. Has anyone heard of it? Or have tried it? It's like $300 to have it done in the salon but I've seen the solution selling on ebay and online for $40-$60 and I found this video explaining how to apply with a friend. I don't know, what say you?

Lottery purchase #4

Someday we will have an RV. We'll go for weekend trips to the beach and week long trips to Key West. I fantasize about the layout of my RV the same way I fantasize about my dream home. I doodle on random scrap paper when I'm bored. Or imagine the layout when I'm driving and the radio dispenses a row of dull songs.

I know I go on and on about charm but I want my RV to be more functional than charming. If I wanted charming I'd fantasize about a Tumbleweed House. I want something that we can all be in while driving, has full air conditioning, a TV, plenty of unfolding bed space, full electricity and water and of course a master bedroom, oh AND LOTS OF WINDOWS! Someday if I win the lottery. But it would have to be the state lottery not the Powerball so that I only had enough money to buy a house and a few extra niceties...if I won the Powerball I'd just get a Hawaiian villa.

Last night I heard grown men scream

We went to see Paranormal Activity last night in Lancaster. The theater was PACKED. There were people in the seat to my left and people in Brian's seat on the right. Very scary.




There's no blood or guts. Just the kind of scary ideas that you think about while lying awake in bed. Footprints in powder, doors moving, lights turning on, burned pictures in your attic. Subtle things that would freak you out in real life.

Brian's such a cynic about these types of movies but I thought it was really effective. The entire theater was in an uproar in the last minute of the movie. No kidding.

I admit it was a little 'Blair Witchy' but what's more scary than being haunted in the woods? Being haunted in your own home of course. It's more relateable.

The entire movie was made for something like $11,000 in 2007 and has now grossed $20 million since last weekend. If you are the kind of person who is afraid of being alone in the dark (like me:) beware of seeing this movie.

Drooling

I want (NO NEED) one of these SOOOOO bad. Would look FABULOUS with my Shabby Apple Dare to Design Dress. Only $74 which includes shipping.

Gasp! Gatsby!

My friend Cheila and I have been talking about doing a Gatsby party for sometime. Due to other priorities and lack of planning and let's be honest....funds....that dream has yet to come to fruition. But looking at how this group pulled their's off makes me want to try again next spring! They really got the details down! Even the vintage liquor labels. I love how the author describes in detail her planning of the event. Very inspirational! Although she doesn't say how they got their hands on SO MANY antique cars.

I wonder if a party like this could be accomplished if you marketed it to a couple counties and charged an admission fee?

Oooo, it could be an annual thing! I'd totally go!

I just discovered that the entire party was an event planned by the Art Deco Society of California. The above party planned their own 'picnic' at the party. Admission at the door was $70. Member price $40. Here were details on the event:

On Sunday, September 13, the Art Deco Society of California will host its Annual Gatsby Summer Afternoon at the historic Dunsmuir House in Oakland California. Now in its 25rd year, the Gatsby Afternoon lets several hundred aficionados of the 1920s and 30s step back to a time when elegance was a way of life and the Charleston and fox trot were all the rage. This is not a spectator event. From 1-6PM the panoramic Dunsmuir front lawn becomes a stage on which all participants picnic, dance and sip champagne, reminiscent of a scene from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel of 1925. Afternoon attire from 1920-1940 (or reasonable facsimile) is required. With everyone attending this event in period fashions, the effect is stunning! Many guests bring period-perfect picnics, with settings from elaborate spreads, complete with silver, crystal, linens and china, to simple wicker baskets on vintage print tablecloths. http://www.artdecosociety.org/gatsby